Arafat Dies: Abbas Takes Palestinian Leadership
Yasser Arafat died on November 11, 2004, at a French military hospital near Paris after weeks of mysterious illness. The 75-year-old Palestinian leader had been airlifted from his Ramallah compound, where Israel had confined him for over two years. Official French medical reports listed a stroke, but his doctors never released a definitive cause of death. In 2012, Swiss scientists found elevated levels of polonium-210 on his belongings, suggesting possible poisoning. French and Russian investigations reached inconclusive results. Arafat had led the Palestinian national movement for 35 years, signing the Oslo Accords in 1993 and sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Mahmoud Abbas succeeded him as PLO chairman and won the Palestinian presidential election in January 2005.
November 11, 2004
22 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on November 11
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