Mohammed Dahlan is a Palestinian, born in 1961 in a refugee camp in Gaza.
In 1981 he helped found the Palestinian youth movement Fatah Shabiba ; he was jailed
several occasions for these activities.
In 1987 he was involved as the leader of an intifada, or uprising, but was arrested
by Israel for this role. After being released he joined the Palestine Liberation Organization
in Tunis, orchestrating protests in Israel, where he gained the trust of Yasser Arafat.
In 1993, he was involved in secret talks with Israel which eventually culminated in the
Oslo Accords of 1993. For his role in these talks, he was given the position of security
chief in the newly created Palestinian Authority, enjoying widespread popular support.
In this role, he continued to negotiate in several subsequent talks, such as the
Camp David 2000 Summit.
His support waned when he took some unpopular actions during a second intifada,
cracking down on certain militants and negotiating ceacefires. His good relations
with the United States and Israel came under suspicion. In 2001 he upset Arafat
by calling for reform in the Palestinian National Authority and expressing dissatisfaction
with a lack of coherent policy.
In 2002, he resigned his post as security cheif in the hope of
becoming the Interior Minister; this did not occur, but he was offered
a post as security advisor. He did not take this step.
In April of 2003, he was appointed the Palestinian Minister of State for Security by Mahmoud Abbas, despite the objection of Arafat. By September he had been ousted when Abbas fell from power, and was replaced by first Nasser Youssef and then Hakam Balawi .
He continues to call for reform but maintains strongly that Arafat should remain President.
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