Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
General Secretary	Ahmad Sa'adat (imprisoned)
Deputy General Secretary	Jamil Mezher
Founder	George Habash
Founded	1967
Headquarters	Damascus, Syria
Paramilitary wing	Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades
Ideology	Communism; Marxism–Leninism; Revolutionary socialism; Palestinian nationalism; Secularism; Anti-imperialism; Anti-Zionism; Pan-Arabism; Arab nationalism; One-state solution;
Political position	Far-left
National affiliation	Palestine Liberation Organization; Democratic Alliance List
International affiliation	International Communist Seminar (defunct); Axis of Resistance
Legislative Council (2006, defunct)	3 / 132
Party flag
Website
	www.pflp.ps
	Politics of Palestine; Political parties; Elections;

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; Arabic: الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, romanized: al-Jabha ash-Shaʿbiyya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn)^[3] is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist^[4] organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the largest being Fatah.

The PFLP has generally taken a hard line on Palestinian national aspirations, opposing the more moderate stance of Fatah. It does not recognize Israel and promotes a one-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The military wing of the PFLP is called the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades.

The PFLP pioneered armed aircraft-hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[5] More recently, the group has participated in the Gaza war (2023–present) alongside Hamas and other allied Palestinian factions.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] It has been designated a terrorist organization by the USA,^[10] Japan,^[11] Canada^[12] and the EU.^[13]

Ahmad Sa'adat, who was sentenced in 2006 to 30 years in an Israeli prison, has served as General Secretary of the PFLP since 2001. As of 2025^[update], the PFLP boycotts participation in the PLO Executive Committee^[1]^[14]^[15] and the Palestinian National Council.^[16]

^ ^a ^b "Profile: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)". BBC News. 18 November 2014.
^ Cite error: The named reference One-state solution was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine | Palestinian political organization | Resistance, Activism, Liberation | Britannica". Britannica. 17 January 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
^ Brehony, Louis (26 September 2024). "Ghassan Kanafani and the Leninist Warriors of Palestine". Arab Studies Quarterly. 46 (3–4). doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.46.3-4.0189. ISSN 0271-3519.
^ "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine". BBC News. 26 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
^ "Not only Hamas: eight factions at war with Israel in Gaza". Newsweek. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "The Order of Battle of Hamas' Izz al Din al Qassem Brigades, Part 1: North and Central Gaza". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations". U.S. Department of State.
^ "Implementation of the Measures including the Freezing of Assets against Terrorists and the Like". Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
^ "About the listing process". publicsafety.gc.ca. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
^ "EUR-Lex – Official Journal of the European Union". lex.europa.eu.
^ Ibrahim, Arwa (13 February 2015). "PROFILE: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine". Middle East Eye.
^ "Bringing the PFLP back into PLO fold?". Ma'an News Agency. 2 October 2010.
^ Sawafta, Ali (30 April 2018). "Palestinian forum convenes after 22 years, beset by division". Reuters.

[BBC_Profile-1] "Profile: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)". BBC News. 18 November 2014.

[One-state_solution-2] Cite error: The named reference One-state solution was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine | Palestinian political organization | Resistance, Activism, Liberation | Britannica". Britannica. 17 January 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2024.

[4] Brehony, Louis (26 September 2024). "Ghassan Kanafani and the Leninist Warriors of Palestine". Arab Studies Quarterly. 46 (3–4). doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.46.3-4.0189. ISSN 0271-3519.

[5] "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine". BBC News. 26 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2012.

[:2-6] "Not only Hamas: eight factions at war with Israel in Gaza". Newsweek. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2024.

[:0-7] Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:1-8] Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:4-9] "The Order of Battle of Hamas' Izz al Din al Qassem Brigades, Part 1: North and Central Gaza". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 22 September 2024.

[10] "Foreign Terrorist Organizations". U.S. Department of State.

[Japan_ban-11] "Implementation of the Measures including the Freezing of Assets against Terrorists and the Like". Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.

[12] "About the listing process". publicsafety.gc.ca. Retrieved 17 July 2015.

[13] "EUR-Lex – Official Journal of the European Union". lex.europa.eu.

[middleeasteye-14] Ibrahim, Arwa (13 February 2015). "PROFILE: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine". Middle East Eye.

[15] "Bringing the PFLP back into PLO fold?". Ma'an News Agency. 2 October 2010.

[reuters-16] Sawafta, Ali (30 April 2018). "Palestinian forum convenes after 22 years, beset by division". Reuters.

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