George Habash (Arabic: 噩賵乇噩 丨亘卮) was a Palestinian politician and physician who founded the Marxist鈥揕eninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Habash was born in al-Lydd, Mandatory Palestine, in 1926. In 1948, while a medical student at the American University of Beirut, he went to his home town of al-Lydd during the 1948 Nakba, when the city's Arab Palestinian population including his family were driven out in what became known as al-Lydd Death March that led to the death of his sister. In 1951, after graduating first in his class from medical school, Habash worked in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and ran a clinic in Amman. He later relocated to Syria and Lebanon. In an effort to recruit the Arab world to this cause, Habash founded the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) in 1951.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, and after Fatah and Yasser Arafat became the leading figures in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Habash and his colleagues founded the PFLP as a front of several Palestinian factions, like the "heroes of return" and "Palestinian Liberation Front", along with the ANM. On 11 December the PLFP released its first press release and Habash became its first secretary-general.
The PFLP is a leftist Marxist鈥揕eninist movement which opposes the existence of Israel and advocates for a single democratic and secular state in the entire region. In the 1970 Dawson's Field hijackings, Habash masterminded the hijackings of four Western airliners to Jordan, which led to the Black September conflict, and his subsequent exile to Lebanon. He remained opposed to a two-state solution even after the PLO signed the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993. He resigned as secretary general of the PFLP due to ill health in 2000, and died after a heart attack in 2008.
He was also known by his kunya as "Al-Hakim" (Arabic: 丕賱丨賰賷賲, 鈥�'The Wise Man' or 'The Doctor').
It鈥檚 frustrating how na茂ve and biased Habash becomes regarding Jamal Abdul Nasser. Habash disregards objectivity entirely and appears to be quite irrational on this subject, damn it, he鈥檚 flat-out stupid when it comes to this. You can鈥檛 overlook the significant contradictions between his expressed views or calls for reform, regardless of his genuine commitment, and his actions in engaging with tyrants and authoritarian regimes in Syria, Algeria, Russia, and other countries.
Also, I鈥檓 puzzled by what these so-called revolutionaries are complaining about. They travel across countries and, while they may face difficulties in some places, that isn鈥檛 always the case. They take vacations in European spas, receive medical treatment abroad, and are welcomed and met by tyrants鈥攂oth Arab and Western. Some of these tyrants provide financial support and weapons, and they can raise and transfer money with ease. Meanwhile, these revolutionaries criticize mujahideen, who are always on the run, unable to raise funds, and whose some of their leaders died due to lack of medical care, calling them sellouts or intelligence agents. Have some shame!
Great book though. It's a highly insightful read on the topic, offering valuable perspectives and practical knowledge.