Yasser Arafat, while presiding over a session of the Palestine National Council (PNC), announced the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in Algiers, Algeria, on November 15, 1988.
PNC was the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
The Palestinian leadership held a council in Algiers, where several were living in exile, from November 12-15, in honor of "the martyr and hero Abu Jihad," the nom de guerre of Khalil al-Wazir, co-founder of the PLO's Fatah, who was assassinated by Mossad operatives and Israeli special forces in Tunis in April that year.
It also came amid the heightened tensions and acts of terror of the First Intifada, which began in December 1987 and lasted until the Oslo peace process in 1993.
The political communique to the United Nations secretary-general on November 16 announcing the declaration refers to the intifada, confirming that the PNC session "was also distinguished by its dedication to the great Palestinian national uprising... together with our population's legendary and epic defiance."
The intifada, in the communique's words, was also "an all-embracing popular revolution... to reject the occupation [Israel] and to fight for its defeat and elimination."
The communique notably referred to the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of our people," which likely was included to downplay the foundation of Hamas in 1987, as the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned terror group aimed to build influence in its nascent years.
It also praised the "revolutionary symphony among the children of the rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and the children of the sacred stones [rocks thrown at Israelis, particularly security forces]."
The communique to the UN demanded seven conditions:
Firstly, to "convene an effective international conference on the subject of the Middle East problem, and its essence, the question of Palestine... with the provision that the said international conference shall be convened on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and shall guarantee the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, first and foremost among which is the right to self-determination."
UNSC Resolution 242 came in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, and UNSC Resolution 338 came after the Yom Kippur War. Resolution 242 called for "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict," while 338 called for parties "to start immediately after the cease-fire the implementation of Security Council resolution 242 (1967) in all of its parts."
The PLO, secondly, called for Israel's withdrawal "from all the Palestinian and Arab territories which it has occupied since 1967."
It also called for the "removal of the settlements" in those territories and asked for a temporary UN supervision of those territories "in order to protect our people and to provide an atmosphere conducive" to implementing the declaration.
Furthermore, it called on the UN to provide a solution to the "Palestine refugee problem."
It also called for freedom of religion and worship at holy sites.
Lastly, it called on the UNSC to establish and ensure arrangements for security and peace among "all concerned States in the region, including the Palestinian State."
The full text of the communique and the declaration of independence are available on the UN's website.
Birthday of Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas
Also on November 15, but in 1935, Mahmoud Abbas was born in Safed during the British Mandate period. Abbas was a co-founder of Fatah who came to prominence during the Oslo peace process, when he signed the Oslo Accords on behalf of the PLO on 13 September 1993.
Abbas, along with imprisoned senior Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti, emerged as the likeliest successors to Arafat during the Second Intifada. Arafat appointed Abbas as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority (the successor to the PNC) on March 19, 2003.
However, Abbas and Arafat did not agree on policies, with the former resigning from his role as PM later in 2003, ostensibly due to clashes with Arafat over terror activity during the Second Intifada. Reports at the time indicated that Abbas clashed with Arafat, as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists, who held a more hardline, violent approach, while Abbas claims to have sought diplomatic means to achieve an agreement with Israel.
However, Abbas remained seen as Arafat's successor by Fatah insiders, and upon Arafat's death in November 2004, he was endorsed by Fatah's Revolutionary Council as their presidential candidate. The elections were held in January 2005, with Abbas gaining 67.38% of the vote. Mustafa Bargouti, a distant relative of Marwan, ran as an independent and came second.