Although the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) has not carried out a major attack since May 1992, when they failed in a raid attempt on an Israeli resort town, Eilat, and despite their lowered status as a major terrorist threat to Israel, the organization has once again found itself on the U.S. State Department's list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.
The organization of today's PLF has changed greatly since it was originally founded by Ahmad Jibril in 1959. In December 1967, PLF joined forces with the Heroes of the Return and The Youth of Revenge groups to form the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Jibril formed a new organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — General Command (PFLP-GC) in 1968 after splitting from the PFLP in April of that year.
Muhammad Zaidan, commonly known as Abu Abbas, re-established the PLF, or Jabhat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniyyah, in 1977 after an unsuccessful attempt to gain control of the PFLP-GC. Abbas served as Jibril's representative in Lebanon, but they conflicted over Syria's military intervention in Lebanon, which Jibril supported and Abbas resented. Before long, the PLF was recognized by the PLO as a separate organization within the Palestinian movement. Despite changes in leadership, the PLF stayed true to its objective: destruction of the state of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
 Discontent within the organization led to more splits in the early 1980s. Abbas first split the PLF in 1983, complaining that Syria's influence over the organization was too great. Abbas's faction has held close ties with the PLO since the split and moved the group from Damascus to Tunisia. The remaining pro-Syrian faction of the PLF underwent a split in January 1984 when central committee member Abd al-Fatah Ghanim seized control of the group's offices, taking the secretary of general, Tal'at Ya'akub, hostage. Ghanim's faction supported Syrian-sponsored Fatah rebels and Rejection Front organizations, and moved its operations to Libya, where it attacked Israel across the Lebanese border. Ya'akub's faction settled in Lebanon and was considered to be neutral to struggles between the various organizations. The security zone in Southern Lebanon foiled the Ya'akub faction's multiple attempts to penetrate Israel from Lebanon, and they were stopped before they had even reached the border. The Abbas and Ya'akub factions began merger negotiations in November 1986 but did not combine until November 1989, a year after Ya'akub died of a heart attack.
While each faction kept the original name and claimed to represent the mother-organization, Abbas's faction has been responsible for the more prominent terrorist attacks carried out by the PLF and it was this faction that has been designated a foreign terrorist organization.
One of the most notorious acts committed by the PLF occurred on Oct. 7, 1985, when four terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro, during its passage from Egypt to Israel. According to Abbas, his men intended to use the ship only for the purpose of slipping undetected into Israel. However, when crew members discovered them cleaning their weapons, their cover was blown. In the events that followed aboard the luxury cruise liner, Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly wheelchair-bound Jewish American citizen was murdered and thrown overboard. Abbas, who was not aboard the Achille Lauro, was released by Italian authorities who claimed jurisdiction and later sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia. There is still an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Italy, but the American warrants were dropped when he was convicted in Italy. Italian courts tried and sentenced the other four terrorists who participated in the hijacking.
Following the Achille Lauro hijacking, Tunisian authorities expelled Abbas's faction from the country. They set up base in Baghdad, Iraq, where they remain today. Iraq is one of the main supporters of the PLF. The organization's strength is unknown, according to the State Department, but has been estimated as anywhere between 50 and 500.
In May 1990, the PLF launched an abortive attack on Israel's Nizanim beach in Tel Aviv. They had intended to kill tourists and Israeli citizens to avenge the murder of seven Palestinian workers earlier in the month. The planned attack garnered much criticism from around the world and when PLO leader Yasser Arafat failed to condemn the attack, the United States broke off its dialogue with the PLO, setting back the peace process that had began in 1988.
Until recently, the PLF has been viewed as less of a threat towards Israel; Abbas claims to have embraced the peace process after many years of opposition. When the PLO signed the 1993 Oslo agreement, Abbas's faction agreed to abandon terrorism. It also acknowledged Israel's right to exist. At a meeting of the Palestine National Council in April 1996, Abbas even voted to revoke the sections of the PLO's charter that called for the destruction of Israel.
The PLF spent the 1980s and early 1990s carrying out a series of destructive terrorist attacks, failing as often as they succeeded. In the past decade, they have fallen out of the public's eyes until recently. In November 2001, 15 members of a PLF cell were arrested by Israeli authorities. Some of those captured had received terrorist training in Iraq. The cell had been planning attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Ben Gurion airport and had already been involved in other terrorist activities, including the abduction and murder of Israeli teen-ager Yuri Gushstein.
Whether or not Abbas truly embraced peace is debatable. Because of the PLF's support of UN Resolution 242 — the cornerstone of Middle East diplomatic efforts since 1967 — it became eligible to receive substantial amounts of financial aid from Yasser Arafat. However, Iraq is also a main supporter of the PLF and enemy of Israel. In support of Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraq offers a $25,000 reward to the families of those who carry out such attacks. PLF members have been active distributors of these funds. For these conflicting actions of peace and violence, Abbas and the PLF continue to be under the careful watch of the United States and Israel.
Sources
Black, Ian. "Israel Foils Attack by PLO Faction." The Guardian, May 31, 1990.
Black, Ian. "Raid on Israel Embarrasses PLO Leader." The Guardian, May 31, 1990.
Emuang, Keith G. "The World's Deadliest Terrorist Groups - The Palestinian Liberation Front - PLF (Part 2 - Organisation & Acts of Terror)." Aug. 8, 2002.
Marshall, Brian. "Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)." Jane's Information Group, May 21, 1999.
Katzman, Kenneth. "Terrorism: Middle Eastern Groups and State Sponsors, 1999." Aug. 9, 1999.
Levitt, Matthew and Ehud Waldoks. "The Return of Palestinian Nationalist Terrorism." Peacewatch, Number 379, May 3, 2002. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/watch/Peacewatch/peacewatch2002/379.htm
Sennott, Charles M. "Achille Lauro Plotter Recast as Proponent of Mideast Peace." The Boston Globe, June 26, 1998.
The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism. "Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)."
U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda. "State-Sponsored Terrorism and Foreign Terrorist Organizations." November 2001.
U.S. Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001.
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