Yasser Arafat (1929-2004)

Awarded the Prize “to honour a political act which called for great courage on both sides, which has opened up opportunities for a new development towards fraternity in the Middle East.”

Palestinian statesman. Arafat was born on August 24, 1929 in Jerusalem. He studied civil engineering at Cairo University. He was one of the founders of Al Fatah movement in 1956. In 1968, he was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1971 was appointed general commer of the Palestinian Revolution Forces. In 1996 he was elected President of Palestine. Arafat died on November 11, 2004 in Paris.