Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat, born Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat al Qudwa al-Hussein on August 24, 1929, is the nominal head of the Palestinian people, and president of the Palestinian Authority. He was born of Palestinian parents in Cairo, Egypt. On his mother's side, Arafat is a member of the Husseini family of Jerusalem, the city's traditional leading landowners.

Arafat founded the "Fatah" terror organization in 1962. Following the Six Day War of 1967, he assumed leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization from Ahmed Shukairy. In September, 1971, Arafat and his Fatah organisation were expelled from Jordan. He subsequently founded the "Black September" terror organization.

As leader of the PLO, he signed a series of agreements with Oslo that created the Palestinian Authority and recognized the existence of the State of Israel.

In 1994, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin).