George Habash (), also known by his laqab "al-Hakim" (; 1 August 1926 – 26 January 2008), was a Palestinian Christian politician and physician who founded the Marxist–Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Habash was born in Lydda, Mandatory Palestine in 1926. In 1948, 19-year-old Habash, a medical student at the American University of Beirut, went to his home town of Lydda during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when the city and his family were driven out in what became known as the Lydda 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 1967, after being sidelined in the Palestine Liberation Organization by Yasser Arafat, he founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist movement which opposes the existence of Israel and advocates for a one democratic and secular state. 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 ill health in 2000, and died after a heart attack in 2008.
Early life
Habash was born in Lydda (today's Lod) to a Greek Orthodox Christian Palestinian family in 1926. As a child, he sang in the church choir. In 1948, 19-year-old Habash, a medical student at the American University of Beirut, went to his home town of Lydda during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War to help his family. While he was there, the Israel Defense Forces attacked the city and as a result, most of its civilian population was forced to leave in what became known as the Lydda Death March. They marched for three days without food or water until they reached the Arab armies' front lines, which led to his sister's death. Habash and his remaining family became refugees and were not allowed to return home. He later finished his education at the AUB and graduated in 1951.
Political thinkers who were influences on Habash at this period included Constantin Zureiq, whose lectures at AUB on 'Arab nationalism and the Zionist danger' in the late 1940s and early 1950s Habash had attended, and Sati' al-Husri an Arab Muslim intellectual who emphasized national cohesiveness, territorial patriotism, and loyalty to the state, and gave priority to Arab unity over Islamic unity.
In 1951, after graduating first in his class from medical school, Habash worked in refugee camps in Jordan and ran a clinic with Wadie Haddad in Amman. He firmly believed that the state of Israel should be ended by all possible means, including political violence. In an effort to recruit the Arab world to this cause, Habash founded the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) in 1951 and aligned the organization with Gamal Abdel Nasser's Arab nationalist ideology.
He was implicated in the 1957 coup attempt in Jordan, which had originated among Palestinian members of the National Guard. Habash was convicted in absentia, after having gone underground when Hussein of Jordan proclaimed martial law and banned all political parties. In 1958 he fled to Syria (then part of the United Arab Republic), but was forced to return to Beirut in 1961 by the tumultuous breakup of the UAR.
Habash was a leading member of the Palestine Liberation Organization until 1967 when he was sidelined by Fatah leader Yasser Arafat, with whom he had a complex relationship described as a mix of "camaraderie and rivalry" and "a love-hate relationship". In response, Habash founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.