Arafat
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Yasir Arafat (1929-2004) was the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He was born in Cairo but during his youth he spent his time in Jerusalem. After fighting armed Arab forces in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli war Arafat entered into the Cairo University. There he became the chairman of the Palestine Student Federation. Arafat also served in the Egyptian army during the Suez campaign in 1956.
The PLO in 1988 under Arafatâs leadership accepted Israelâs right to coexist with Palestine, which in effect renounced terrorism. In the 1993 accord Israel led to a limited Palestinian self-rule in Jericho and in the Gaza Strip in 1994. Arafat became president of the Palestinian Authority. Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres shared a Nobel peace prize for the 1993 accord in 1994.
In 2003 an unsuccessful attempt was tried to reduce Arafatâs power months before he died leaving behind a PLO that was divided within and challenged from without by other Palestinian groups.