Terrorism Reference Biographies | George Habash Biography

August 2, 1926

Lydda, Palestine Mandate

Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

"For decades world opinion has been neither for nor against the Palestinians. It simply ignored us. At least the world is talking about us now."

Through a half century of Palestinian resistance to the nation of Israel, which was established on Palestinian land in 1948, several different kinds of opposition have arisen. One recent kind is militant Islam, represented by Osama bin Laden (c. 1957–; see entry), in which Palestinian nationalism, the desire to found a new Palestinian nation on the land controlled by Israel, is seen as part of worldwide Muslim resistance to the Jewish state.

George Habash, however, was born a Christian. His opposition to Israel is not based on religious or ethnic grounds. Even as mainstream Palestinian groups moved toward peace with...