George Habash, leader of PFLP, passes away.

Gary Keenan

Greetings all

I just received the news item below regarding the
recent passing of George Habash whom I am familiar
with mainly through the many stories told me by my
late dear friend, Issa Fahel, who was his childhood
friend.

They attended the same Greek Orthodox school
together in Jaffa. Apparently, George was an easy
going young man admired and respected by his
classmates and others. It was the unspeakable horrors
and massive ethnic cleansing that befell his family
and other citizens of Lydda/Ramleh in July 1948, at
the hands of Jewish forces under the command of Moshe
Dayan and Ben Gurion that changed his life's
direction. Apart from continuing his study of
medicine, he decided to devote himself to the pursuit
of justice for his people and all Arabs. He went on
to lead the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP.)

Incidentally, Issa Fahel also became a tireless
champion of his fellow Palestinians. Upon his death,
I wrote a brief biography of Issa which can be found
at:
http://www.canpalnet-ottawa.org/canpalissafahel.html

Best,
Gary

PFLP founder George Habash, 1925-2008

Amman – Ma'an – George Habash, the founder of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
and a godfather of the Palestinian struggle, died of a
heart attack on Saturday in the Jordanian capital,
Amman, medical sources said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared three
days of national mourning to honor Habash, who was
known as "Al Hakim," the Wise Man.

Habash was born in Lydda, in Mandate Palestine in 1925
into a Greek Orthodox family. Like hundreds of
thousands of other Palestinians, he became a refugee
during the mass expulsion committed by the Israeli
army in 1948.

He graduated from the American University of Beirut
(AUB) in 1951 with a degree in medicine. With a focus
on pediatrics, he went to work in Palestinian refugee
camps in Amman. While at AUB he met Hilda Habash, a
Palestinian from Jerusalem.

In in 1952 he co-founded the Arab Nationalist
Movement, which later spun off into several parties in
individual countries.

Wanted by the Jordanian regime for his political
activities, he fled Amman in 1957 for Damascus, where
he was imprisoned several times, also for political
reasons.

After leaving Jordan, Habash shifted his focus from
Pan-Arab to Palestinian issues. His view was that the
Palestinians should embrace Marxist-Leninist
revolution.

In December 1967 he founded, with Abu Ali Mustafa, the
PFLP. He remained the Secretary General of the
Organization until 2000. He was succeeded by Abu Ali
Mustafa.

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