In 2000, after Yasser Arafat rejected the offer made to him by Ehud Barak based on the two-state solution and declined to negotiate for a more favorable offer, it became clear that Arafat would not make a deal with Israel unless it included the full Palestinian right of return, which would demographically destroy the Jewish character of the State of Israel.

In late 2004, after effectively being confined within his Ramallah compound for over two years by the Israeli army, Arafat became ill, fell into a coma and died on 11 November 2004 at the age of 75.

As Arafat began to develop friendships with Palestinian refugees ( some of whom he knew also from his Cairo days ), he and the others gradually founded the group that became known as Fatah.

The incident, however, brought Assad and Arafat to unpleasant terms, which would surface later when Assad became President of Syria.

On the same day, Arafat became supreme commander of the PLA.

Arafat became the President and Prime Minister of the PNA, the Commander of the PLA and the Speaker of the PLC.

Arafat established a Palestinian police force, named the Preventive Security Service ( PSS ), that became active on 13 May.

Then in March, Fatah under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, faced off with Israel in Jordan in what became known as the Battle of Karameh.

Then when Yasser Arafat took on that role in September 1970, al-Yehiyeh became chief-of-staff of all Palestinian forces.

He was received by Gamal Abdel Nasser and Tito, Yigal Allon and Yasser Arafat, while François Mitterrand, Olof Palme and Willy Brandt became his friends.

His visit with Arafat was among the reasons he became estranged from his mother, Hilda Ostermann, who disinherited him.

Abbott became well known for many roles on the television show, including parodies of Jean Chrétien, The Queen Mother, Yasser Arafat, Leonard Cohen, George W. Bush, Brian Williams, Peter Mansbridge, Don Newman, Craig Oliver, and " Native Persons Spokesman " Billy Two-Willies.

In Jordan, Azzam participated in paramilitary operations against the Israeli occupation but became disillusioned with the secular and provincial nature of the Palestinian resistance coalition held together under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) and led by Yasser Arafat.

Yasser Arafat, claimed the Battle of Karameh as a victory ( in Arabic, " karameh " means " dignity ") and quickly became a Palestinian national hero ; portrayed as one who dared to confront Israel.

He later became a personal friend of Yasser Arafat.

The Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, chose Gaza City as its first provincial headquarters.

In certain cases a special style is needed to accommodate imperfect statehood, e. g. the title Sardar-i-Riyasat was used in Kashmir after its accession to India, and PLO-leader Yasser Arafat was styled the first " President of the Palestinian National Authority " in 1994.

In Yasser Arafat's September 9, 1993 letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, as part of the first Oslo accord, Arafat stated that " The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security.

Mohammed Abdel Rahman was his first name, Abdel Raouf was his father's name and Arafat his grandfather's.

Since Arafat was raised in Cairo, the tradition of dropping the Mohammed or Ahmad portion of one's first name was common ; notable Egyptians such as Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak did so.

Arafat with Fatah officials in public meeting with President of Egypt | Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser for the first time in Cairo, approximately eight months after Arafat becomes Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, 1969

Arafat and Abu Jihad meet Gamal Abdel Nasser upon arrival in Cairo to attend first emergency Arab League summit, 1970

Arafat was also the first leader to address the UN while wearing a holster, although it did not contain a gun.

Although hesitant at first to take sides in the conflict, Arafat and Fatah played an important role in the Lebanese Civil War.

" The Civil War's first phase ended and Arafat — who was commanding Fatah forces at Tel al-Zaatar — narrowly escaped with assistance from Saudi and Kuwaiti diplomats.

He is famous for crossing the lines during the Siege of Beirut to meet Yassir Arafat on 3 July 1982, the first time the Palestinian leader ever met with an Israeli.

Avnery famously crossed the front lines and met Yasser Arafat on 3 July 1982, during the Siege of Beirut — said to have been the first time an Israeli met personally with Arafat.

It was first signed in Taba ( in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt ) by Israel and the PLO on September 24, 1995 and then four days later on September 28, 1995 by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and witnessed by US President Bill Clinton as well as by representatives of Russia, Egypt, Jordan, Norway, and the European Union in Washington, D. C.

The first step on the road map was the appointment of the first-ever Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas ( also known as Abu Mazen ,) by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The attacks were first blamed on Palestine Liberation Organization, but its leader, Yasser Arafat, denied the accusations and denounced the strikes.

Gush Shalom said that Israel's offer to Yasser Arafat in the Camp David negotiations of 2000 was not a " generous offer " but " a humiliating demand for surrender ," publishing the maps from the proposal ( seldom published in the US ), and an animation from the maps showing how little would be left for a Palestinian state under the proposal Avnery was among the first to meet and negotiate with PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

Yasser Arafat and Abu Jihad meet Gamal Abdel Nasser upon arrival in Cairo to attend first emergency Arab League summit, 1970

As-Sa ' iqa was formed as an organization by the Syrian-led Ba ' ath Party in September 1966, but first activated in December 1968, when Syria tried to build up an alternative to Yasser Arafat, then emerging with his Fatah faction as the primary Palestinian fedayeen leader and politician.

According to Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin, Gold and Netanyahu advisor Yitzhak Molcho were the first envoys of the newly-elected Likud government to meet with Yasser Arafat in the Gaza Strip on June 27, 1996.

This was the price that Arafat had to pay for his first meeting with Netanyahu.

The idea had first been seriously discussed in the 1970s, and gradually become the unofficial negotiating stance of the PLO leadership under Arafat, but it had still remained a taboo subject for most, until Arafat officially recognized Israel in 1988, under strong pressure from the USA.

Prior to signing the accords, Arafat — as Chairman of the PLO and its official representative — signed two letters renouncing violence and officially recognizing Israel.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi stated that a permanent representative meeting would be held to discuss Arafat ’ s death, and permanent representatives will prepare a report and raise proposals over necessary action, which they will present in the soonest Arab League ministerial meeting.

This document, which was accepted by the Palestinian National Council ( PNC ) after lobbying by Fatah and DFLP, cautiously introduced the concept of a two-state solution in the PLO, and caused a split in the organization leading to the formation of the Rejectionist Front, where radical organizations such as the PFLP, PFLP-GC, Palestine Liberation Front and others gathered with the backing of Syria, Libya and Iraq to oppose Arafat and the mainstream PLO stance.

However, instead of joining the ranks of the Palestinian fedayeen, Arafat fought alongside the Muslim Brotherhood, although he did not join the organization.

In accordance with his ideology, Arafat generally refused to accept donations to his organization from major Arab governments, in order to act independently of them.

Yahya Hammuda took his place and invited Arafat to join the organization.

According to Said Aburish, the government of Jordan and a number of Fatah commandos informed Arafat that large-scale Israeli military preparations for an attack on the town were underway, prompting fedayeen groups, such as George Habash's newly formed group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( PFLP ) and Nayef Hawatmeh's breakaway organization the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( DFLP ), to withdraw their forces from the town.

Arafat assigned Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub to head the organization.

Secret negotiations with Yasser Arafat's PLO organization led to the Oslo Accords, which won Peres, Rabin and Arafat the Nobel Peace Prize.

** In January 2006 the militant Hamas organization, classified as a terrorist group by the United States government and other groups, won a landslide victory over the ruling Fatah party which had been in power under the leadership of former PLO chairman Yasser Arafat.

The strengthening of the Hamas organization amongst the Palestinians, the gradual disintegration of the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah organization, and the Israeli disengagement plan and especially the death of Yasser Arafat led to the policy change of the Hamas movement in early 2005 which started putting greater emphasis to its political characteristics of the organization.

In 1958, he founded the organization of Fatah with Arafat and other Palestinians in Kuwait.

The PLO headquarters was completely destroyed, although Yasser Arafat, the head of the organization, was not there at the time and escaped unharmed.

FIDA was founded by Yasser Abd Rabbo, a pro-peace moderate, who then represented the organization in the Palestine Liberation Organization's ( PLO ) Executive Committee, where he worked as an advisor to Yassir Arafat.