Arafat, the founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO , originally employed guerilla warfare and terrorism against Israel in his struggle for an independent Palestinian state.
However, in the late s, he stunned Israel and the world when he began seeking diplomatic solutions in his quest for a Palestinian homeland.
One year later, Arafat and Rabin signed a major peace agreement granting Palestine limited self-government in territories occupied by Israel. In , though, hopes were dashed that the Oslo Accords might finally bring peace to the troubled region when Arafat, dogged by self-doubt and criticism at home that he was compromising too much, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak were unable to negotiate a final peace.
In the aftermath of the collapse of negotiations, with most Palestinians still living in poverty and growing increasingly desperate, a new wave of violence erupted. Israel continued to blame Arafat for the violence—even that which was perpetrated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, groups that had probably never been under his control. The collapse of peace talks and the declaration of intifada by the Palestinians led to the election of a hawkish right-wing government in Israel, making peace seem an even more distant prospect.
President George W. Bush , who was strongly pro-Israel. After Israel dismissed a compromise offer put forth by the Arab League, Palestinian attacks increased, causing Israel to again turn to military intervention in the West Bank. Arafat finally was released from his compound in May , after an agreement was reached which forced him to issue a statement in Arabic instructing his followers to halt attacks on Israel. It was ignored and the violence continued. In October , Arafat fell ill with flulike symptoms and, his situation worsening, was transported to Paris, France, for medical treatment.
He died there the following month, on November In the years since his death, conspiracy theories regarding the true cause of Arafat's demise have abounded, many holding Israel responsible. In November , researchers in Switzerland released a report revealing that tests conducted on Arafat's remains and some of his belongings support the theory that the late Egyptian leader was poisoned.
Evidence from the report suggests that radioactive polonium—a highly toxic substance—had been used. Suha Arafat, Yasser Arafat's widow, supported the findings in media interviews as proof of Arafat's murder. Other authorities, including a Russian medical investigation team called to the case, have maintained that they believe Arafat died of natural causes. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!
Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Under pressure from the U. But Abbas resigned after only four months, complaining that Arafat had refused to hand him control of Palestinian security forces. Even nine years after his death , Yasser Arafat retains an enduring symbolic power as a source of political legitimacy in the Palestinian national movement. Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem.
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In Cairo, before he was seventeen Arafat was smuggling arms to Palestine to be used against the British and the Jews.
The defeat of the Arabs and the establishment of the state of Israel left him in such despair that he applied for a visa to study at the University of Texas. Recovering his spirits and retaining his dream of an independent Palestinian homeland, he returned to Faud University to major in engineering but spent most of his time as leader of the Palestinian students.
He did manage to get his degree in , worked briefly in Egypt, then resettled in Kuwait, first being employed in the department of public works, next successfully running his own contracting firm. He spent all his spare time in political activities, to which he contributed most of the profits. In he and his friends founded Al-Fatah, an underground network of secret cells, which in began to publish a magazine advocating armed struggle against Israel.
At the end of Arafat left Kuwait to become a full-time revolutionary, organising Fatah raids into Israel from Jordan. It was also in that the Palestine Liberation Organisation PLO was established, under the sponsorship of the Arab League, bringing together a number of groups all working to free Palestine for the Palestinians. The PLO was no longer to be something of a puppet organisation of the Arab states, wanting to keep the Palestinians quiet, but an independent nationalist organisation, based in Jordan.
Arafat developed the PLO into a state within the state of Jordan with its own military forces. King Hussein of Jordan, disturbed by its guerrilla attacks on Israel and other violent methods, eventually expelled the PLO from his country.
Arafat sought to build a similar organisation in Lebanon, but this time was driven out by an Israeli military invasion. He kept the organization alive, however, by moving its headquarters to Tunis. He was a survivor himself, escaping death in an airplane crash, surviving any assassination attempts by Israeli intelligence agencies, and recovering from a serious stroke. His life was one of constant travel, moving from country to country to promote the Palestinian cause, always keeping his movements secret, as he did any details about his private life.
Even his marriage to Suha Tawil, a Palestinian half his age, was kept secret for some fifteen months. She had already begun significant humanitarian activities at home, especially for disabled children, but the prominent part she took in the public events in Oslo was a surprise for many Arafat-watchers.
Then the intifada shaking protest movement strengthened Arafat by directing world attention to the difficult plight of the Palestinians. In came a change of policy. The prospects for a peace agreement with Israel now brightened.
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