Palestinian Liberation Front

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The Palestinian Liberation Front ( Arabic جبهة التحرير الفلسطينية jabhat at-tahrir al-filastiniyya ; English Palestine Liberation Front , PLF ) is a militant Palestinian group led by Wasel Abu Yousef and based in Ramallah . The European Union and Public Safety Canada classified the group as terrorist . The manpower is around 6000 (estimate from 2017).

origin

The PLF was founded by Ahmad Jibril in 1959 and enjoyed strong Syrian support. In 1967 the PLF joined forces with two other groups, the Arab nationalist movement's " Heroes of Return " (abtal al-awda) and the group " The Youth of the Years ", thus forming the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP ). In this context, the PLF has been referred to as the Syrian puppet . The PFLP emerged from a program sponsored by Egypt with the aim of weakening other Arab governments and thereby strengthening the reputation of Egyptian President Nasser.

The PFLP was led by the former leader of the Arab nationalist movement, George Habasch , but in April 1968 Ahmad Jibril split from this group to create the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), which will join the the previous PLF's strongly pro-Syrian position returned.

Ultimately, this led to a resurgence of the PLF after the organization broke up when Jibril's PFLP-GC followed Syria in the fight against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the Lebanese civil war in 1976 . Open fighting broke out between the rival factions and only after mediation by Yasser Arafat did their relations stabilize. On April 24, 1977, the new PLF was founded under the leadership of Muhammad Zaidan alias Abu Abbas and Tal'at Ya'akub. Sporadic fighting between the PFLP-GC and the PLF continued and an August 1977 bomb attack on PLF headquarters killed approximately 200 people.

In November 1977 the Greek Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem, Hilarion Capucci , was released from Israeli imprisonment after three years. There he was serving in Fatah for arms smuggling . He also did propaganda for the PLF. The Vatican campaigned for his pardon.

Split 1982

In 1982, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon was followed by the division of the organization into three factions. One of the main points of the dispute was the relationship with the PLO and Fatah , with some members critically supporting Arafat while others participated in the rebellion against him. All three factions claimed to represent the original organization and kept the name PLF:

  • The group, led by Tal'at Ya'akub, the general secretary of the PLF, remained neutral in the struggle between the individual organizations and gathered its strength in Lebanon . Ya'akub died of a heart attack in November 1988, and his group fell apart.
  • A smaller group under the PLF central committee member Abd al-Fatah Ghanim was more aggressively pro-Syrian and took control of the movement in Damascus . She supported Abu Musa's Fatah uprising and cooperated with her in attacks on the PLO. The group later concentrated its administration in Libya and ultimately merged with the Ya'akub faction.
  • The pro- Iraqi faction under Abu Abbas, who had been Deputy Secretary General, had the largest following, estimated at around 400 activists. The group was headquartered in Tunisia , but after the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985, the Tunisian authorities expelled Abu Abbas and the group relocated to Baghdad .

While each faction kept the original name and claimed to be the parent organization, Abbas' group has been responsible for the most famous terrorist attacks and it is only his faction that has been classified as terrorist.

Post-split developments

In 1991, security circles suspected that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein supported both Fatah and the PLF. Both groups were considered "highly dangerous". Intelligence agencies assumed that their leaders had been in Baghdad since the outbreak of the Iraq war, although they are said to have been at odds with Hussein for years. According to the intelligence of the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution, both combat units were represented by around twelve members in Germany. At the time, Saddam Hussein was seen as someone with the ability to influence violent Palestinians. In addition to Abu Nidal and the PLF, the May Day organization is said to have operated from Baghdad, the city being "the secret PLO headquarters". Arafat is said to have been there in mid-January 1991, despite having had a long feud with Abu Nidal. This division of the PLO leadership was seen as a "vacuum at the top of the PLO". Iraq had also given refuge to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin , one of the instigators of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, for ten years. Baghdad had repeatedly made it possible for terrorists to go underground.

In 1993 the following people were among Yasser Arafat's most important opponents in the PLO:

  • Georges Habasch, PFLP Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, based in Damascus, approx. 2000 fighters
  • Naif Hawatmeh, DFLP Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, based in Damascus, approx. 1500 fighters
  • Ahmed Jibril, PFLP-GC Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, Damascus headquarters approx. 300 fighters
  • Abu Abbas, PLF Palestinian Liberation Front, based in Baghdad approx. 500 fighters

Despite this, the leaders of the PLF still worked in the PLO, with Abu Abbas sitting on the PLO's executive committee as the PLF's representative. After the PLO signed the Oslo Accords in 1994 , which the PLF rejected, Abu Abbas turned away from terrorism and recognized Israel's right to exist . The movement continued to have offices in the Palestinian Territories , Lebanon and Iraq, but its activities have since declined. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip , the PLF enjoys numerically lower support, while its main supporters are recruited from the Lebanese refugee camps , where they are reported to stand by Fatah against various Syrian-backed groups.

Developments since 2000

In November 2001, 15 members of a PLF cell were arrested by the Israeli authorities. Some of these prisoners received terror training in Iraq. The cell had planned attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport. In addition, she was already involved in other terrorist activities, including the kidnapping and murder of the Israeli teenager Yuri Guschstein.

During the US-led Iraq war , Abu Abbas was captured in April 2003 by US special forces following intelligence reports in a suburb of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. He may have tried to escape to Syria. Some of his confidants were also arrested in Baghdad. The US State Department had previously indicated that the Iraqi regime had supported the PLF. The Palestinian government demanded the release of Abu Abbas. The reason for this demand was that his arrest violated the Middle East Agreement of 1995. It stipulates that acts committed prior to the Oslo Peace Agreement of 1993 must not lead to persecution.

Abu Abbas reportedly died on March 9, 2004 in US captivity. Initial reports suggested a natural cause of death. Various Palestinian groups and his widow, however, spoke of murder. Abu Abbas was allegedly the mastermind behind the Achille Lauro kidnapping. The Palestinian Liberation Front participated in the elections in the Palestinian Territories under the name of Martyr Abu Abbas , but did not win a seat.

Developments since 2010

Since 2014, the armed conflicts between the Palestinian Liberation Front, Fatah, Hamas, the Nidal Front, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad and the Arab Liberation Front, as hostile organizations, have intensified. They are engaged in skirmishes for political influence in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. This split in the interests of the Palestinians worsened the already precarious situation for the civilian population. Their lives are shaped by unemployment and the radicalization of young people.

Acts of terrorism

The faction led by Abu Abbas has carried out several attacks, including the killing of civilians. That is why the PLF is referred to as a terrorist organization by the EU and the United States, among others.

Attack on Nahariya

On the night of April 22, 1979, four PLF members went ashore from Lebanon in a rubber dinghy and forcibly broke into an apartment building. There they took hostages. The 17-year-old PLF fighter Samir Kuntar killed two of his hostages on the beach when Israeli security forces approached. Two police officers died, and two of the attackers were also killed. Kuntar was imprisoned in Israel. Hezbollah repeatedly campaigned for his release. In 2004 there was an exchange of prisoners organized by the German Federal Intelligence Service. 430 Palestinians and 16 members of Hezbollah were released. Samir Kuntar was removed from the released list at the last moment. In December 2015 he was killed in an air strike.

Abduction of Achille Lauro

When the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked on October 7, 1985, the kidnappers originally wanted to use the ship to invade Israel incognito, but were discovered by members of the crew cleaning their weapons and then took control of the ship. In the course of the action, the kidnappers shot dead Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly person from New York City who was sitting in a wheelchair . They then forced two members of the crew to throw him into the sea with his wheelchair. Klinghoffer was of Jewish descent.

US naval aviators later intercepted the Egypt Air Boeing 737, which was supposed to bring the hijackers to Tunis, and forced them to land on an American air force base in Sicily. The US government has requested their extradition. The Italian authorities arrested four Palestinians. However, Abu Abbas and one of his confidants released them and gave him a scheduled flight from Rome to Belgrade. The US embassy in Rome was upset. Italy's Prime Minister Bettino Craxi justified the action of the Italians by arguing that Abu Abbas had an Iraqi diplomatic passport, i.e. immunity. In Italy, the four Palestinians detained were sentenced to between six and a half and nine years in prison. An appeals court later reduced the sentences for three of the four Palestinians to two years. The United States opened its own case against Abu Abbas; a 1986 lawsuit against him was dropped a short time later without explanation.

US intelligence agencies believed that Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi was behind the kidnapping of Achille Lauro . But there were also voices who considered a “Libyan connection” to be extremely dubious.

Israel viewed Italy's behavior as a surrender, "as it is mostly practiced by the western states that are affected by cheap indulgence". Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said: "Israel is not a kind of international bank for terrorists where any country can buy the liberation of its hostages at our expense."

Nail bomb in Netanya

In May 2002, a man got out of a taxi on the market square in Netanya - eyewitness reports said he was wearing an Israeli army uniform - and set off an explosive device filled with nails. The Abu Dhabi TV station reported that the radical Palestinian Liberation Front had claimed responsibility for the attack. According to information from the Israeli daily Ha′aretz , the radical Islamic Hamas also assumed responsibility for the suicide attack.

Nizanim Beach Raid

According to reports from the US State Department and the Center for Defense Information , the PLF attacked Nizanim Beach near Tel-Aviv on May 30, 1990 with two speedboats in order to kill tourists and Israeli citizens in revenge for the violent death of seven Palestinian workers . Four of the attackers were killed and twelve others were taken prisoner. The attack was also intended to torpedo a negotiated solution between the PLO and Israel, which was also in the interests of Iraq. Nevertheless, the action was successful in that the United States withdrew from the US-Palestinian dialogue that began in 1988 because Yasser Arafat failed to condemn the attack. Despite Arafat's public silence on the case, the PLF was exposed to severe internal criticism from the PLO, so that Abu Abbas had to resign from his seat on the PLO Executive Committee. This terrorist action provided the opportunity to put the Rabin-Shamir plan of bilateral negotiations with Jordan and Syria, municipal elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with the aim of autonomous self-government to the files.

Explosive device at the Karni border crossing

In January 2005, an explosive device weighing around 130 kilograms was detonated near an Israeli military base in the Gaza Strip - at the Karni crossing on the border with Israel. Then grenades were fired at the border post and a battle broke out. Five people lost their lives. The Al-Aqsa Brigades , Hamas and the Palestinian Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack . It was said that the attack was a "continuation of the resistance". Abu Abbas had already turned away from terrorism in 1994.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Common Position 2009/468 / CFSP of the Council of 15 June 2009 updating Common Position 2001/931 / CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism and repealing Common Position 2009/67 / CFSP
  2. ↑ Public Safety Canada: Currently listed entities. Archived from the original on March 9, 2007 ; accessed on February 17, 2016 (English).
  3. ^ US Department of State: Foreign Terrorist Organizations ( Memento of March 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Office of Counterterrorism, October 11, 2005
  4. ↑ http://www.aldorars.com/en/news/1419
  5. ↑ Peggy Klein: The conflict between Jews and Arabs as an established-outsider relationship in the Google book search
  6. ↑ Pardon: Hilarion Capucci . In: Der Spiegel . No. 47 , 1977 ( online - Nov. 14, 1977 ).
  7. ↑ a b c Grace Chu: In the Spotlight: The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Center of Defense Information, November 14, 2002, engl. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cdi.org
  8. ↑ Old Brothers . In: Der Spiegel . No. 7 , 1991 ( online - 11 February 1991 ).
  9. ↑ Fredy Gsteiger : Vacuum at the top of the PLO. Die Zeit, January 18, 1991, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Christopher Hitchens: "Why don't you say: I was wrong?" Die Zeit, July 12, 2007, accessed on February 18, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Yasser Arafat and his most important opponents in the PLO . In: Der Spiegel . No. 36 , 1993 ( online - Sept. 6, 1993 ).
  12. ↑ Abu Abbas: US command catches terrorist chief in Iraq. Spiegel Online, April 16, 2003, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Terrorist Abbas captured: Palestinians demand release. Spiegel Online, April 16, 2003, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  14. ^ Palestine Liberation Front (PLF). United States Department of State, April 2001, archived from the original on August 17, 2002 ; accessed on February 17, 2016 (English).
  15. ↑ Dead Abu Abbas: Palestinians blame the United States. Spiegel Online, March 10, 2004, accessed February 17, 2016 .
  16. ↑ a b "Achille Lauro" kidnapping: Abbas, mastermind, dies in captivity. Spiegel Online, March 10, 2004, accessed February 17, 2016 .
  17. ↑ Andrea Böhm: Second class refugees. Die Zeit, March 12, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2016 .
  18. ^ David Birnbaum: Jews, Church & Civilization. An integrated historical timeline 1956–2008 in the Google book search
  19. ↑ Werner Sonne: Samir Kuntar - Israel, the BND and the end of a bloodthirsty terrorist. In: Cicero - magazine for political culture. December 21, 2015, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  20. ^ "A Hijack on the High Seas - Part One" BBC, May 7, 2002, engl.
  21. ↑ The hostages of God. Die Zeit, February 6, 1987, accessed on February 18, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Johannes von Dohnanyi: Steppe fire in the Mediterranean. Die Zeit, April 4, 1986, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Dietrich Strothmann: The small difference. Die Zeit, April 25, 1986, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  24. ^ Dietrich Strothmann: Whom the hour strikes. Die Zeit, February 6, 1987, accessed on February 18, 2016 .
  25. ↑ Dead in Israel: With the nail bomb on the market. Spiegel Online, May 19, 2002, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  26. ↑ Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1990 - Middle East Overview U.S. Department of State, April 30, 1991
  27. ↑ Michael thresholds: Peace for the children of the stones. Die Zeit, March 22, 1991, accessed February 18, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Five dead in attack in Gaza Strip. Spiegel Online, January 14, 2005, accessed February 18, 2016 .