After decades as Palestinian leader, President Yasser Arafat died in a Paris hospital on November 11th, 2004 following an unidentified illness aged 75.
Two days later his body was flown via a state funeral in Cairo to his home and the Palestinian Authority HQ in the Muqata compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Tens of thousands of Palestinian mourners converged on the compound amid chaotic and emotional scenes for his funeral.
Arafat had spent the previous 3 years confined to the compound by the Israelis following the start of the second Intifada. Arafat had fought his whole life for a free Palestine and until his death had been their only leader. Elections were due to be held in January 2005.