Database: Identifiers of Designated Islamic Terrorist Organizations

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Designated as terrorist by: Canada, European Union, United States

Base of operations: Palestinian Territories

Background: Council on Foreign Relations
Background: START (University of Maryland)

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a resistance movement founded by George Habash following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. A nationalist group with Marxist-Leninist underpinnings, it seeks to remove Western influence from the Middle East and views Israel as the central component of this struggle. Differentiations in ideologies have sparked some fractures, leading to independent factions. PFLP operatives pioneered the use of hijackings as a terror tactic in the late 1960s and 1970s, notably teaming with West German leftists in 1976 to seize an Air France flight and divert it to Entebbe, Uganda, where Israeli commandos later freed the hostages. The PFLP became affiliated with Yasser Arafat's PLO in 1968 but was subsequently marginalized by the rise of Islamist groups such as Hamas in the 1990s. However, the organization regained some clout during the Second Intifada, assassinating Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. It remains active despite attrition of its ranks.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Emblem	Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Flag