West Bank/Gaza Strip
Under the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority since the Cairo Agreement of May 1994.
Local time when the first plane, Flt 11, crashed into New York's WTC on 9/11/01 - 2:45PM.

Yasser Arafat - President of Palestine

• Israeli troops take over Tulkarem; trap Yasser Arafat in his compound. 1/21/02
• Thousands demonstrated in Gaza in support of bin Laden, led by Hamas on 10/8/01.
• Office of the President of Palestine - Yasser Arafat
• Arafat's Bio
• Excerpt from CNN's profile on Yasser Arafat:  Creating a Palestinian state has been a dream of Yasser Arafat's since he was a Palestinian nationalist in Egypt smuggling guns into Palestine.  That dream sustained him during his years as a guerrilla fighter with a pistol on his hip, and it has guided him through his leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization.  Arafat was born Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat al Qudwa al-Hussein in Cairo, Egypt, on August 24, 1929, the son of a successful merchant. His mother died when he was 4, and he went to live with an uncle in Jerusalem, a city that was ruled by the British under a League of Nations mandate (installed after World War I).  It was during those years that Arafat was exposed to the clash between Arabs and Jews, particularly Jews who immigrated to build a Jewish homeland in Palestine.  See CNN's profile for much more.
• PLO representative to US is Hasan Abdel Rahman
• US Aid to the West Bank and Gaza
• Political groups
  • Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
    • Fatah - largest faction of PLO; secular nationalist movement led by Arafat
      • Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - commit suicide bombings based on Palestinian nationalism.  Goal is to drive Israel out of Gaza Strip and West Bank by force.
  • Hamas - A Muslim fundamentalist (Islamic Resistance Movement) group which began in 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.  This group had support from Sami al Arian, a professor at the University of South Florida who solicited money from college students for it and Islamic Jihad.  Their goal is to eliminate Israel, targeting civilians.  Abu Mazook is head of Hamas.  Commit suicide bombings rooted in Islamic beliefs.
    • Salah Shehadeh
  • Palestinian Islamic Jihad - Muslim fundamentalist group
• The Electronic Intifada - coverage about the Palestinians and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Palestinian Authority Site  (Read about the Palestinian websites knocked off line by the Israeli incursions 4/18/02.)
• Excerpt from CNN's In-Depth Look at the Palestinian government:  The Palestinian Authority is the limited self-rule government for the West Bank and Gaza. It was established in 1994 to begin the process of autonomy for the Palestinian territories under the terms of the Oslo accords.  See CNN's report for more.