George Habash was a Palestinian politician and guerrilla leader. Native of Lydda, Habash and his family fled Palestine following the Istraeli campaign to expel most Palestinians in the 1948 Arab/Israeli war. He graduated in medicine at the American University of Beirut in 1951. At about the same time he set up the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) whose aim was to reverse and avenge the losses suffered by Palestinians at the hand of Israel. At the start he was a pan-Arabist and supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser (president of Egypt) but he moved towards a more radical position. He gave up the idea of Arab unity ever defeating Israel and adopted a policy of relying on a popular war to reclaim lost land. After the 1967 war in wich Israel captured the West Bank & Gaza & Jerusalem Habrash founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP. Habrash hardline approach involved him in planning airline hijackings and attacks within Israel. Habash was long at odds with Yaser Arafat, the leader of the PLO, but the PFLP remained a part of the PLO despite their disagreements. Habash resigned as leader of the PFLP in 2000 to make place for a younger generation.
George Habash was a Palestinian politician and guerrilla leader. Native of Lydda, Habash and his family fled Palestine following the Istraeli campaign to expel most Palestinians in the 1948 Arab/Israeli war. He graduated in medicine at the American University of Beirut in 1951. At about the same time he set up the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) whose aim was to reverse and avenge the losses suffered by Palestinians at the hand of Israel. At the start he was a pan-Arabist and supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser (president of Egypt) but he moved towards a more radical position. He gave up the idea of Arab unity ever defeating Israel and adopted a policy of relying on a popular war to reclaim lost land. After the 1967 war in wich Israel captured the West Bank & Gaza & Jerusalem Habrash founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP. Habrash hardline approach involved him in planning airline hijackings and attacks within Israel. Habash was long at odds with Yaser Arafat, the leader of the PLO, but the PFLP remained a part of the PLO despite their disagreements. Habash resigned as leader of the PFLP in 2000 to make place for a younger generation.
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