Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Founded in 1967 by George Habash after Israel captured the West Bank in the Six-Day War, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) embraces a blend of Marxist-Leninist ideology and Arab nationalism. The group, which became notorious during the 1970s for hijacking civilian airliners, is the second largest in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The U.S. State Department lists the PFLP as a terrorist group.

In August 1969, PFLP members Leila Ali Khaled and Salim Issawi took over a TWA Rome-to-Tel Aviv flight and directed the plane to Syria, where the passengers and crew were released unharmed. With the plane emptied, the hijackers blew up the cockpit. Khaled, then just 25, became infamous, called “girl terrorist” and “deadly beauty” by the press. She subsequently had plastic surgery to disguise her well-known face, and took part in the PFLP's next, and most daring, ...