Key dates in Yasser Arafat's life

2004-11-04 16:45

Aug 4, 1929: Born in Cairo, Egypt, fifth child of Palestinian merchant Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini.

1949: Forms Palestinian Students' League.

Jan 1, 1965: Forms Fatah guerrilla movement, which would become the core group of the Palestine Liberation Organization; two days later attempts first attack on Israel.

March 21, 1968: Israeli army attack on PLO base in Jordan; thousands join PLO.

Feb 4, 1969: Takes over PLO chairmanship

Nov 13, 1974: Addresses UN General Assembly.

Oct 1, 1985: Survives Israeli air raid on PLO headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia.

Dec 9, 1987: First intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israel, breaks out in the occupied territories.

Nov 15, 1988: Symbolic declaration of a Palestinian state, headed by Arafat, by the Palestine National Council (parliament-in-exile) meeting in Algiers, that includes implicit recognition of the existence of Israel.

Aug 2, 1990: Supports Iraq invasion of Kuwait, resulting in PLO's isolation.

November 1991: Secretly marries 28-year-old secretary, Suha Tawil; daughter Zahwa born in 1995 in Paris.

Sept 13, 1993: Signs Israel-PLO accord on Palestinian autonomy negotiated in Oslo, Norway; shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on White House lawn.

July 1, 1994: Returns from exile, setting foot on Palestinian soil for the first time in 26 years.

Dec 10, 1994: Wins Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Nov 9, 1995: Makes first visit to Israel in secret trip to offer condolences to widow of assassinated Rabin.

Jan 20, 1996: Elected president of Palestinian Authority in first Palestinian elections.

Oct 23, 1998: Takes part in Israeli and Palestinian meeting at Wye River, Md, agree on interim land-for-peace deal on West Bank.

July 11, 2000: Sequestered with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak for nine days by President Clinton at "Camp David II," summit fails.

Dec 3, 2001: Effectively confined in West Bank town of Ramallah after Israel destroys his helicopters.

March 29, 2002: Declared "enemy" by Israeli Cabinet.

April 2, 2002: Says he would rather die than leave West Bank in response to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's offer of permanent exile.

Oct 29, 2004: Leaves his Israeli-besieged West Bank headquarters for first time in nearly three years for treatment at a military hospital near Paris specializing in blood disorders. Arafat has been sick for two weeks.

- AP