Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, was born in 1935 in the town of Safad, in what is now northern Israel. In 1948, Abbas and his family moved to Syria. During the late 1950s, Abbas lived in Qatar where he spent time recruiting support for the Palestinian liberation movement. Along with Yasser Arafat, Abbas was one of the primary founders of Fatah, which has held the majority of representatives in the Palestine Liberation Organization since its formation in 1964. As a member of the PLO, Abbas attempted negotiations with some Israeli leaders, but many fundamentalist Palestinian leaders criticized Abbas...