(1929-2004) chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, president of the Palestinian Authority, one of the founders of the Fatah movement
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (
August 24,
1929 –
November 11,
2004; ), popularly known as Yasser Arafat, was a
Palestinian guerrilla soldier and diplomat. As
Chairman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization and
President of the
Palestinian National Authority, Arafat continuously fought with Israeli forces in the name of Palestinian self-determination. Arafat spent much of his life leading the moderate
Fatah organization/political party, which he founded between 1958–1960. Originally opposed to Israel's existence, he modified his position in 1988 when he accepted
UN Security Council Resolution 242. Arafat was constantly surrounded by controversy, as in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Fatah faced off with
Jordan in a civil war. Forced out of Jordan and into Lebanon, Arafat and Fatah were the targets of
Israel's 1978 and 1982 invasions of that country. Arafat was said to be a key planner of the
Black September organization's murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the
1972 Summer Olympics. The majority of the Palestinian people – regardless of political ideology or faction – viewed him as a heroic
freedom fighter and
martyr who symbolized the national aspirations of his people. However, many Israelis have described him as an unrepentant
terrorist.
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