Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas helped found Fatah in the 1950s, which spearheaded the Palestinian armed struggle and dominated the Palestine Liberation Organization. In the 1990s Abbas stepped into the international spotlight when he lead Palestine's peace talks with Israel, resulting in the 1993 Oslo Accords. He was chosen as the unofficial president of the "State of Palestine" in 2008.
Profile
Mahmoud Abbas (born 1935, Zefat, Palestine [now in Israel]) Palestinian leader. Abbas earned a law degree from the University of Damascus and a doctorate in history from Moscow State University. In the late 1950s he was one of the founders of Fatah, which spearheaded the Palestinian armed struggle and dominated the Palestine Liberation Organization. In the 1990s Abbas shaped Palestinian negotiating strategy in peace talks that led in 1993 to the Oslo Accords, in which Israel and the Palestinians extended to each other mutual recognition and which called for Israel to cede some authority over the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinians. He briefly served as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2003 and was elected its president in 2005.
From : www.biography.com
