Page 132 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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106———Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine

has been involved in the search for Al Qaeda members activist. In 1991 the group split into two groups,
in Afghanistan. creating a pro-Arafat faction and Hawatmeh’s more
radical faction.
See also COUNTERTERRORISM; HIJACKING; HOSTAGE TAKING;
OPERATION EAGLE CLAW; SPECIAL AIR SERVICE REGIMENT; The DFLP is a longtime critic of the peace process
with Israel, but since Yasir Arafat signed the 1993
SPECIAL OPERATIONS WING
Oslo accords the group has positioned itself politically
Further Reading between Arafat’s Fatah and more radical, rejectionist
groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Beckwith, Charlie A., and Donald Knox. Delta Force.
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983. Unlike fellow Palestinian guerrilla movements,
Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down. New York: Atlantic including the PFLP, Ahmad Jibril’s Popular Front for
Monthly Press, 1999. the Liberation of Palestine–General Command and
De B. Taillon, J. Paul. The Evolution of Special Forces in Abu Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Front, the DFLP
Counter-terrorism: The British and American Experi- was not listed as an active foreign terrorist group by
ences. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001. the U.S. State Department in its most recent report on
Marquis, Susan L. Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding global terrorism.
U.S. Special Forces. Washington, DC: Brookings In August 2001, the group resurfaced in world
Institution, 1997. headlines when members claimed responsibility for
an attack on a Gaza base that killed three Israeli sol-
diers. Israeli officials, however, cast doubt on the

DEMOCRATIC FRONT FOR claim and suggested that members of Arafat’s Fatah
organization were behind the raid. After the
THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York City and the Pentagon near
In 1969, after a power struggle with his leader Washington, D.C., an Abu Dhabi television station
reported receiving a call from the DFLP claiming
George Habash, Najib Hawatmeh left the Popular
responsibility for the massacre. DFLP leaders, how-
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He and
ever, denied any involvement and condemned the acts
other left-wing PFLP members split to form the
of terror. The United States later charged Osama bin
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Laden and his Al Qaeda operatives with responsibly
(DFLP), a marginal group that has made multiple
for the attacks.
small attacks on Israeli targets.
In February 2002, five DFLP members were killed
The DFLP began as a Marxist-Leninist organiza-
when their car exploded in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian
tion with the goal of creating an independent
security officials told the press that Israeli helicopters
Palestinian state though a revolution of the masses.
had fired missiles at the vehicle; Israeli officials did
The group cultivated relationships with radical orga-
not comment on the Gaza explosion. The press
nizations and Communist parties in the Middle East.
reported that pieces of Kalashnikov rifles had been
The DFLP committed its most notorious act of
found with the men’s bodies. The DFLP vowed retal-
terror in 1974, when members attacked a school in
iation for the deaths.
Maalot, a town in northern Israel, and killed 20
teenagers. In 1983, the group kidnapped Israeli Army See also GEORGE HABASH; PALESTINE LIBERATION FRONT;
sergeant Samir Assad. Press reports later delighted in POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE;
reporting that a female DFLP member had caught POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF
Assad in a “honey trap,” courting him for several PALESTINE–GENERAL COMMAND
months until he visited her village and was taken
hostage. Assad was later killed; while DFLP members Further Reading
declared he died during Israeli Air Force bombings at Drummond, James. “Almost Forgotten Name Returns to
their base, Israeli Army pathologists reported that he Limelight.” Financial Times (London), August 27, 2001.
had been murdered by his captors in cold blood. Mishal, Shaul. The PLO Under Arafat: Between Gun and
Assad’s corpse was returned to Israel eight years after Olive Branch. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
he was kidnapped in return for the release of a DFLP 1986.