http://news10.net/storyfull1.asp?id=8512
Yasser Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has died in a French military hospital after a brief undisclosed illness.
Arafat, was flown to a French military hospital from his home in Ramallah on October 29. Doctors in Paris said his condition had worsened in recent days as he slipped deeper into a coma. He passed away Wednesday at about 7:30 p.m. PST.
Arafat, 75, who has been a symbol of the Palestinians' struggle for independence, will be flown to Cairo for a funeral and then buried at his compound in Ramallah.
Israel's interior minister says his country will allow for a "respectful" funeral, and won't cause interference. He says Israeli forces will remain on the sidelines unless there's unrest.
Palestinian parliament speaker Rawhi Fattuh will take over the presidency of the Palestinian Authority for 60 days until a new president can be elected.
In addition to heading up the Palestinian Authority, Arafat also served as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Fatah. Officials say a decision on who will lead those groups won't be made until after Arafat's death.
Arafat spent much of his life fighting for the Palestinian cause. He first became involved in the struggle while living in Kuwait in 1958. He was later successful in making the effort to establish a Palestinian homeland the central political issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In 1969 Arafat became the chairman of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a nationalist group that advocated Palestinian statehood and pursued armed struggle with Israel.
As head of the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Arafat was frequently denounced as a terrorist. During the 1970, PLO fighters were involved in a series of hijackings and terrorist attacks to publicize their struggle for a homeland.
Arafat changed the direction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1988 when he spoke before a special session of the United Nations, declaring his group was renouncing terrorism and supported "the right of all parties concerned in the Middle East conflict to live in peace and security, including the state of Palestine, Israel and other neighbors".
In 1994 he, along with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, received the Nobel Peace Prize for the Oslo Accords of 1993, which called for Palestinian self-rule in Israel's West Bank and Gaza Strip.
That peace agreement created the Palestinian Authority. In 1996, Arafat was elected president of the PA.
Hopes for peace between Israelis and Palestinians were shattered in 2000, when a renewed Palestinian uprising began. Arafat once again found himself labeled a terrorist, as fighters for the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad organizations undertook dozens of suicide bombing attacks, many against civilian targets.
For the last two years, Israeli forces have effectively bottled up Arafat in his Ramallah compound. Israeli government officials made it clear that if Arafat left Ramallah he would not be allowed to return.
Arafat was married to Suha Tawil, a Palestinian humanitarian worker half his age. She recently became the target of criticism for living in Paris while Arafat stayed at his compound in Ramallah.
Originally Posted by bdouble013
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