Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat passed away at Percy Military Hospital in Paris, chief of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Presidency Tayeb Abdel Rahim officially declared on Thursday morning on the official Palestinian Television.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died early on Nov. 11 at a French military hospital outside Paris, Palestinian presidential secretary Tayeb Abdelrahim announced at the Muqataa headquarters. (Xinhua Photo)

He read a statement before journalists saying that the leader of the Palestinian people and their revolution passed away Thursday, 11 of November 2004, of 75 years old.

Meanwhile, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has confirmed the death of the Palestinian leader.

French military hospital Percy confirmed on Thursday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in intensive care at 3:30 a.m. (0230GMT).

General Christian Estripeau, spokesman for the health department of the French Defense Ministry, said in a statement that "Mr. Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority, died at Percy Military Training Hospital in Clamart on Nov. 11 at 3:30 am (0230 GMT)".

Former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Parliament Speaker Rawhi Fattuh visited Arafat in the French military hospital on Monday.

Arafat, 75, had suffered from a variety of digestive tract ailments since he had been confined to his Ramallah headquarters by the Israeli army. He was transferred to the French military hospital on Oct. 29.

Yasser Arafat -- hero of Palestinian national struggle

Arafat was born on Aug. 24, 1929 in Cairo to a textile merchant father, who was a Palestinian with Egyptian ancestry, and his mother from an old Palestinian family in Jerusalem.

He was named after Yasser, which was believed to honor an Arab victim during the British mandate in Palestine.

After his mother's death when he was five years old, Arafat was sent to live with his maternal uncle in Jerusalem, then under the British rule.

After spending four years there, his father brought him back to Cairo, where an older sister took care of him and his siblings.

During the war between the Jews and the Arab states in 1948, 19-year-old Arafat broke off his studies at Faud I University (later Cairo University) to fight against the Jews in the Gaza area.

After the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, he managed to get a visa to study at the University of Texas in the United States.

Recovering his spirits and retaining the dream of an independent Palestinian homeland, Arafat returned to Faud I University to major in engineering, but spent most of his time as leader of the Palestinian students.

In 1949, he formed Palestinian Students' League.

In 1953, Arafat sent a three-word blood letter to an Egyptian leader, which simply read: "Don't forget Palestine."

After getting a degree in 1956, Arafat worked briefly in Egypt, then resettled in Kuwait, where he was first employed in the public works department, and then successfully running his own contracting firm.

Committed to armed struggle to reverse what Palestinians called the Nabka (Catastrophe), Arafat secretly founded the Fatah movement in 1959 in Kuwait.

In late 1964, Arafat left Kuwait to become a full-time revolutionary, organizing Fatah raids into Israel from Jordan.

It was also in 1964 that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created.

After the Arab countries' defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Fatah emerged from obscurity of an underground movement to a most powerful and best organized group among the PLO.

In 1969, Arafat became the PLO chairman.

With higher profile came higher personal risk. Initially based in Jordan, Arafat and his fighters were expelled in 1970 and redeployed first in Lebanon, and later in Tunisia.

In November 1974, with the support of the Arab states, Arafat participated in a debate on the Middle East at the UN General Assembly.

His famous words there were: "I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with declared aim of ousting PLO. The Israeli forces besieged Beirut where Arafat was holed up in bunker.

Israel halted bombardment in August in deal under which Arafat and some 10,000 PLO fighters left Lebanon.

Arafat then relocated PLO headquarters to distant Tunis, his formal base for next 12 years.

In 1987, Arafat's troops launched an Intifada (Uprising) in the West Bank, which strengthened his position by directing the world attention to the Palestinians' plight.

In 1988 came a change of policy. In a speech at a special UN session in Geneva, Arafat declared that the PLO renounced terrorism and supported "the right of all parties concerned in the Middle East conflict to live in peace and security, including the state of Palestine, Israel and other neighbors".

After a setback when the PLO supported Iraq in the Gulf War of 1991, the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel began in earnest, leading to the Oslo Accords of 1993.

On May 12, 1994, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was established. In July, Arafat returned to Gaza after a 24-year-long exile.

On Dec. 10, 1994, Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Israel's then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for their efforts in the Middle East peace process.

In early 1996, Arafat was elected chairman of the PNA. He struggled to define his role and keep Israelis and his own countrymen committed to what he termed "the peace of the brave".

In July 2000, Arafat and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was sequestered by US President Bill Clinton at Camp David. They left the summit with a "statement of intent" to end the violence, but neither side signed on it.

Since December 2001, Arafat had been besieged by the Israeli army in his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, known as Muqata.

On March 29, 2002, the Israeli cabinet declared Arafat an enemy.

In response to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's offer of permanent exile, Arafat said on April 2, 2002 that he would rather die than leave the Palestinian territories.

On April 29, 2003, Mahmoud Abbas was appointed to be the first ever Palestinian prime minister. The move was pushed by Israel and the United States to sideline Arafat, who was accused by both sides of fomenting violence.

On Oct. 21, 2003, Arafat was diagnosed with gallstones.

On Oct. 27, 2004, Israel's media quoted anonymous sources as saying that Arafat collapsed earlier and was briefly unconscious. Palestinian officials denied the reports but admitted that Arafat was very sick.

On Oct. 29, 2004, Arafat was flown to Percy Military Hospital outside Paris for treatment. He was accompanied by his wife and a team of medics and advisors.

"I will be back soon, God willing. I'll see you soon," Arafat told his supporters during his stopover in Jordan.

On Nov. 11, Arafat was announced dead by the French hospital at 3:30 a.m. (0230 GMT).

Before 2001, Arafat's life was one of constant travel, moving from country to country to promote the cause for an independent Palestinian statehood.

He always kept his movements secret, as he did about his private life, even his marriage to Suha Tawil, a Palestinian woman half his age. Their daughter Zahwa was named after Arafat's mother.