1950 - Founded Fatah
1965-1969 - Several terrorist attacks against infrastructure targets in Israel. First attacks against airliners, including a multiple simultaneous hijacking, using Jordan as a base.
Sept. 1971 - Arafat driven from Jordan by Jordanian forces after giving the government there no end of grief.
Sept. 1972 - Arafat moves his base to Lebanon. Israeli olympic team murdered in Munich by the Black September wing of Fatah.
Oct. 1972 - Lufthansa jet airliner hijacked.
March 1973 - Black September group took American hostages in the Saudi consolate in the Sudan demanding the release of Sirhan Sirhan, Bobby Kennedy's killer.
April 1974 - PLO slaughtered eighteen residents of Kiryat Shmona in their apartment building.
May 1974 - Palestinian terrorists attacked a school in Ma'alot, murdering 26 Israelis, including several children.
June 1974 - the PLO endorsed what it called a "phased plan" to obliterate Israel.
November 1974 - PLO awarded observer status in the UN.
1980 - Arafat recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians by the EEC.
1982 - Arafat driven from Lebanon by the IDF.
1985 - a PLO cell identifying itself as the Palestine Liberation Front, led by Mohammed Abu al-Abbas, hijacked the Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro. As his horrified wife looked on, the terrorists viciously shot a 69-year-old, wheelchair-bound Jew named Leon Klinghoffer, then tossed him overboard to die in the sea.
1987 - First intifada breaks out in Gaza. Arafat's group kills 3000 Israelis and even more of his own people were killed in political purges.
1988 - PLO granted right to particpate in UN General Assembly sessions.
1993 - Oslo accords.
1994 - Arafat wins Nobel Peace Prize.
1996 - Arafat, speaking to an Arab audience, said, "We plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion.... We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem."
2000 - Under intense U.S. pressure driven by Clinton's need for a legacy, Israel offered Arafat the creation of a Palestinian state over 90 percent of the West Bank and all of Gaza, with its capital to be in East Jerusalem. Arafat rejected this offer.
2000 - The Second Intifada began with the collapse of the Oslo accords.
2001 - Following one of his typically belligerant addresses to the Palestinians in December, 2001, the administration of President George W. Bush let it be known that Arafat would no longer be dealt with. Bush asserts the doctine of global anti-terrorism and war subsequent to Sept 11, and Arafat's effectiveness is curtailed and he is gradually marginalized and reduced to pariah status.
2002 to the Present - Arafat is trapped in his compound in Palestine. Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist leaders are picked off one by one by the Israeli anti-terrorist forces.