Fatah cancels Arafat memorial in Gaza after attacks

AFP/Gaza City

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah movement said Sunday it is cancelling this week's Gaza ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death due to security concerns.

Gaza-based Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu Eita told AFP that Hamas said it could not guarantee security at the memorial events scheduled for Tuesday.

The announcement comes after at least 10 explosions hit houses and cars belonging to senior Fatah members in Gaza on Friday, reportedly without causing any casualties.

Major dates in the life of Yasser Arafat

The life of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died 10 years ago, mirrored the progress of the Palestinian struggle for a state. Here are the main dates in his life.

- 1929

August 4: Born Mohammed Abdel-Rawf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Hussaini. The Palestinians say he was born in Jerusalem but other sources say his birthplace was Cairo. Joins an armed Palestinian group aged 17 and takes part in the 1948 war which followed Israel's establishment. Returns to Cairo to study civil engineering before going to Kuwait, where he founds the Fatah nationalist movement in 1959. Fatah launches an armed struggle against Israel in 1965.

- 1969

February 4: Elected chairman of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) under the nom-de-guerre Abu Ammar.

- 1970

September: Expelled from Amman after thousands of Palestinians killed in "Black September" clashes with Jordanian forces, and establishes PLO headquarters in Beirut.

- 1974

November 13: Addresses the UN General Assembly for the first time, saying he has come holding both "an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun," adding: "Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

- 1988

November 15: Symbolic declaration of a Palestinian state by the Palestine National Council, which includes implicit recognition of Israel.

- 1990

July 17: Marries assistant Suha Tawil, 28, but the marriage does not become public for another two years. They have a daughter, Zahwa, in 1995.

- 1991

January: PLO backing for Iraq in the Gulf War isolates Arafat and deprives him of financial support from wealthy Arab monarchies.

- 1992

April 7: Survives a plane crash in the Libyan desert.

- 1993

September 13: Historic handshake with Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at the White House as the two sign the Oslo peace accords.

- 1994

July 1: Arafat returns to the Palestinian territories after 27 years, forms the Palestinian Authority in Gaza City.

October 14: Arafat, Rabin and Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres win the Nobel Peace Prize.

- 2000

July 25: Camp David summit between Arafat and Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak collapses. The second Palestinian intifada erupts in late September.

- 2001

December 3: Arafat confined to Ramallah by Israeli troops after a series of Palestinian suicide attacks against Israelis. Most of his headquarters destroyed during an Israeli offensive launched on March 29, 2002.

- 2003

February 14: Arafat creates post of Palestinian premier following heavy international pressure, but power struggles paralyse the Palestinian Authority.

- 2004

November 11: Dies in France, aged 75, after being taken to hospital on October 29. On November 17, France implicitly denies rumours Israel poisoned him.

- 2012

July 31: Arafat's widow files a civil suit in France against persons unknown for murder with prosecutors opening an enquiry a month later. Samples taken from his body in November are shared with experts from France, Russia and Switzerland.

- 2013 -

December: French and Russian experts rule out polonium poisoning, a month after the Swiss team suggested a third party was probably involved in Arafat's death because of high levels of polonium in its samples.