The third strongest Palestinian political faction. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was formed in the aftermath of the Arab defeat by Israel in June 1967, which resulted in the entirety of historic Palestine falling under colonial rule. In December 1967, several military groups that had formed under the umbrella of the Arab National Movement united to become the PFLP. The PFLP is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
In its December 11, 1967, founding statement, the PFLP characterized the June defeat as a new stage in the struggle, a turning point toward mass participation of the working class and wage laborers in the struggle against imperialism and Zionism, in which “revolutionary violence” would be unleashed to bring about national liberation. It drew inspiration from Communist leaders in China, Vietnam and Cuba. Its goal was the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state on all of historic Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital and it affirmed its commitment “to the popular armed struggle.”
Beginning in 1968, the PFLP conducted several hijackings of international commercial airlines to call attention to the question of Palestine; that tactic was abandoned in the early 1970s. As political settlement plans were floated, the PFLP joined with other groups to form the Palestinian Rejectionist Front against Surrender Solutions in 1974. By 1981, it had embraced the PLO’s “phasic approach”: the acceptance of statehood on any liberated Palestinian territory. After the PLO was expelled from Lebanon in 1982, the PFLP established its headquarters in Damascus. It prioritized work within the occupied Palestinian territories with women, student, and worker groups, and was part of the Intifada leadership. When the Oslo Accords were announced, the PFLP opposed the deal and the PLO’s strategy, albeit rejecting any alternative to the PLO. In its 2013 conference, it called for the establishment of a Palestinian state on all of historic Palestine and the “unity” of the Palestinian people, a reference to ongoing infighting between Hamas and Fatah, the two largest political factions.
George Habash, the PFLP’s founding leader, resigned in 2000. The PFLP elected Abu Ali Mustafa; Israel assassinated him in his home in al-Bireh in 2001. Ahmad Saadat succeeded Mustafa but was arrested in 2002 by the Palestinian Authority after the PFLP assassinated the Israeli tourism minister. In March 2006, Saadat’s Jericho prison was surrounded by Israeli forces and he and five prisoners were abducted after a deadly standoff. He is serving a 30-year term in an Israeli prison.