Yasser Arafat was the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the first president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Arafat was born in Cairo to Palestinian exiles, but moved to Jerusalem when he was five. He became a Palestinian nationalist and briefly served in the Egyptian Army. In 1959, he formed the Fatah Movement, which came to dominate the PLO. Arafat became the leader of the PLO in 1969. The following year, after the PLO was forced out of Jordan, Arafat located the organization in Lebanon and became involved in that country's civil war, while continuing to wage a terrorist campaign against Israel. In 1982, the United States and other Western powers negotiated safe passage for Arafat to Tunis during the Israeli invasion. Throughout the 1980s, Arafat survived repeated Israeli efforts to kill him. In 1988, he proclaimed an independent Palestinian state and began to transition the official PLO stance from the destruction of Israel to a two-state solution.

Arafat supported the regime of Saddam Hussein during the Persian Gulf War. His stance led many moderate Arab states to withdraw assistance from the PLO. After the U.S-led coalition victory, Arafat engaged in a new series of negotiations. The 1993 Oslo Accords endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state in return for a renunciation of violence by the PLO and recognition of Israel. For his part in the talks, Arafat shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

In 1996, Arafat was elected president of the PNA, which had been formed as a transitional government under the terms of the Oslo Accords. He had difficulty in constraining the more militant groups such as Hamas that carried on a struggle with Fatah over control of the Palestinian Authority and a terrorist campaign against Israel, which led to repeated Israeli incursions into the PNA. Through the 1990s, terrorist attacks led to Israeli retaliatory strikes and escalating violence. The pattern undermined Arafat's authority among the Palestinians and his legitimacy before Israeli leaders.

In 1998, President William J. Clinton convinced Arafat to restart talks to finalize a long-term peace agreement with Israel. The resultant Wye River Agreement led to the release of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli redeployments in exchange for new security measures by the PNA. Clinton continued to pressure both Arafat and Israeli leaders to reach a settlement. At the 2000 Camp David Summit, Arafat was offered a Palestinian state consisting of the Gaza Strip and 90 percent of the West Bank. Arafat made a tactical mistake in the negotiations and attempted to gain more territory. He rejected the Israeli offer, but, later seeing his mistake, Arafat endeavored at the 2001 Taba Summit to gain a settlement based on the terms from the Camp David sessions. Elections in Israel brought the nationalist Likud Party to power and led to the collapse of peace talks, along with a new round of violence. His leadership among the Palestinians was undermined by rampant corruption among the Fatah-dominated PNA government. During the final years of his life, the struggle for control of the PNA between Fatah and Hamas intensified. Arafat died in 2004.

Free term papers are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can use our professional writing services to buy a custom written research paper, term paper, or essay on Biographies at affordable price. CustomTermPapers is the best solution for those who seek help in writing term papers, essays, and research papers related to Biographies and other relevant topics.