An Icon's Journey

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Aug. 4, 1929
CHILDHOOD Yasser Arafat is born in Cairo. After the death of his mother in 1933, he is sent to live with an uncle in Jerusalem

May 15, 1948
EARLY TRAINING The state of Israel is proclaimed. Arafat runs arms and learns guerrilla tactics in the first Arab-Israeli war

1951-57
EDUCATION AND ACTIVISM Arafat studies engineering at Cairo University and becomes involved in the Palestinian cause

Feb. 4, 1969
RISE TO POWER He is elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (P.L.O.)

Sept. 17, 1970
DRIVEN OUT Jordan cracks down on the P.L.O. Soon afterward, Arafat moves to Lebanon

June 6, 1982
EXILE The P.L.O. evacuates Beirut after Israel invades Lebanon

Dec. 13, 1988
INTIFADEH Following a year of riots by Palestinians against Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Arafat renounces terrorism and calls for negotiations with Israel

Sept. 13, 1993
PEACE TALKS After more than a year of secret negotiations, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sign the Oslo accords

July 1, 1994
STATESMAN Arafat returns to Gaza after a 25-year absence. In December he is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Jan. 20, 1996
TRIUMPH He is elected president of the Palestinian Authority

July 11, 2000
STALEMATE A summit at Camp David with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak fails

September 2000
WAVE OF VIOLENCE A deadly second intifadeh begins

June 2002
ISOLATION Periodically besieged by Israel, which blames him for suicide attacks, Arafat confines himself to Ramallah, where he remains for more than two years

Nov. 11, 2004
LAST GOODBYE Two weeks after leaving Ramallah for medical treatment, Arafat dies near Paris