Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa (; ; 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as
Yasser Arafat ( , ) or by his
kunya Abu Ammar ( , ), was a
Palestinian leader. He was
Chairman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),
President of the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and leader of the
Fatah political party and former paramilitary group, which he founded in 1959. Originally opposed to Israel's existence, he modified his position in 1988 when he accepted
UN Security Council Resolution 242. Arafat and his movement operated from several Arab countries. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fatah faced off with
Jordan in a brief civil war. Forced out of Jordan and into
Lebanon, Arafat and Fatah were major targets of Israel's 1978 and 1982 invasions of that country.