The last 1988 issue of TIME magazine, featuring a smiling Yasser Arafat under the headline “About Face,” could be considered Arafat’s greatest honor – at least until he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Considering he was once branded a terrorist by Israel, “About Face” was probably an understatement. Born, according to records, in Cairo, Egypt – although he always maintained it was Jerusalem – he was an active supporter of an establishment of a Palestinian state, as well as an active enemy of the Jewish one, Israel. His military organization, Fatah, carried out terrorist bombings in Israel throughout the 60s, and supported attacks against Israel into the 1980s. Then by the end of the decade he announced he was renouncing violence.

On this day, December 7, in 1988, one week before his historic speech at the United Nations, Yasser Arafat, the one-time most wanted man in Israel, met with several high-ranking leaders of the Israeli government to work out a peace agreement that recognized Israel’s right to exist.

Arafat, as the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a major player in middle-east politics, agreed to adhere to U.N. resolutions 242 and 338, recognizing Israel, renouncing terrorism, and closing the issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel. The agreement allowed the start of formal negotiations for peace with the United States and Israel.