Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) 



Origins

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) has its origins in two other Palestinian movements, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The former was created by Ahmed Jibril in 1959 with the objective to fight against Israel. After the 1967 war which found Israel fighting Egypt, Jordan and Syria, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), together with other groups, notably the National Front for the Liberation of Palestine, created the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, led by Georges Habash. However, one year later in 1968, Ahmed Jibril disagreed with Georges Habash on the nature of their struggle against Israel; Jibril wanted to focus on an armed struggle, not in a political process. Consequently, Jibril created in 1968 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.

Location / Main area of operation

Currently, the two main locations of the PFLP-GC are in Syria and Lebanon.
In Lebanon, the movement’s strongholds are Naameh in the southern area of Beirut, the valley of Biqa, and the Palestinian refugee camps. PFLP–GC's Lebanese-based capabilities include bases, offices, training camps, and a maritime unit.
In Syria, the PFLP-GC’s headquarters is located in Damascus, but also has political and media offices, and reportedly, military bases throughout the country. In 2003, the Israeli Air Force attacked a PFLP-GC training camp in the northwest of Damascus; however, Syrian authorities deny allegations of PFLP-GC bases on its soil. Furthermore, the PFLP-GC has representatives in the Gaza Strip and has claimed responsibility for some armed operations there.

 


Objectives

According to Ahmed Jibril, the top leader of the movement, the main goals of the PFLP-GC are the liberation of all the Palestinian-occupied territories, the break up of the Jewish settlements, and Palestinian control over Jerusalem.
The PFLP-GC strongly opposed the 1993 Oslo agreements and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) policy of negotiating with Israel. The PFLP-GC wants to restore the old PLO charter and program, aimed at creating a Palestinian state in place of Israel. Accordingly, in 1993 the PFLP-GC joined the Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF), whose principal aims were the derailment of the Oslo process and the support of armed struggle against Israel.
Additionally, the PFLP-GC has espoused a Marxist ideology since its formation; this ideology has been combined with Islamic philosophy since the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution.

 

Number of Members


The PFLP-GC has several hundred fighters spread throughout Lebanon and Syria. Estimates range from 300 to 1,000 fighters, including conventional and guerrilla forces.

Type : Transnational

The PFLP–GC is a transnational non-state armed group since its armed operations have significantly occurred in both Lebanese territory and the Gaza Strip.

 

Conflict Status : Active

According to the UN Secretary-General Envoy for the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559 (2004) and the Government of Lebanon, the PFLP-GC was active through 2007 and “reinforced [its] position in Lebanon” during that year. Additionally, the UN Secretary-General reported that through 2007 there were armed clashes between Fatah on the one hand, and Hamas and the PFLP-GC on the other, in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Likewise, the PFLP–GC has recently carried out several armed operations in the Gaza Strip.

Structure of the organization

The structure of the PFLP is the following:

  • The National Congress: it is the supreme governing body; however, it has met only seven times, the last being in 2000
  • The Central Committee
  • The Politburo: it is led by Secretary-General Ahmed Jibril.
  • Military Wing (Kataeb Martyr Jihad Jibril): named after the son of Ahmed Jibril, who was killed by a bomb in Beirut in 2002.
     

Leadership

The PFLP–GC founder, Ahmed Jibril, is still its top leader and currently lives in Syria.

External aid/Third party involvement

The two principal foreign States allegedly linked to this armed group are Syria and Iran.
It is reported that the PFLP–GC started to collaborate with Syria in 1968, shortly after its formation.  Since then, the PFLP-GC and its leader, Ahmed Jibril, have often been reported as working closely with the Syrian government.  The Prime Minister of Lebanon maintained in 2007 that the PFLP-GC is “supported and supplied with weapons, ammunitions and provisions regularly from Syria.” Certain UN Member States from the Middle-East have made similar allegations;  however, the Syrian government has rejected all of them. In this respect, it is worth noting that the PFLP–GC’s headquarters is still in Damascus; however, Syrian authorities state that the purpose of the presence of the PFLP-GC's office is for informative and propaganda activities within the framework of the Alliance of Palestinian Forces.

According to certain UN Member States from the Middle-East, the PFLP-GC is also “receiving material and training from Iran.”  U.S. authorities also cited Iran as providing PFLP-GC with extensive funds, training and weapons.  According to Anders Strindberg, the links of this armed group with Iran were made shortly after the Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979. Nevertheless, the PFLP–GC has denied that Iran supplied it weapons.

Additionally, several sources report that the PFLP–GC used to have closed ties with Libya,  which allegedly provided $20 million annually to the movement.  In addition, Ahmed Jibril stated in an interview with a German newspaper in 2001 that Libya supplied the PFLP-GC with weapons in the 1980s.

As regards ties between the PFLP–GC and other armed groups in the region, it is worth noting that the PFLP–GC recognized that it supplied weapons to Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the 2000 Second Intifada.

Additionally, and according to certain UN Member States from the Middle-East, the PFLP-GC provided logistical support to Fatah al-Islam during its fight against the Lebanese authorities in 2007.  The Government of Lebanon adds that the PLFP-GC gave military training to members Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon.

Lastly, it has been reported that the PFLP-GC maintains close ties with Hizbullah. In this regard, it is worth noting that Ahmed Jibril claimed, in the same interview with the German newspaper mentioned above, that the PFLP-GC supplied weapons to Hizbullah.
 

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

No information is available on this matter.

Funding

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) has its origins in two other Palestinian movements, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The former was created by Ahmed Jibril in 1959 with the objective to fight against Israel. After the 1967 war which found Israel fighting Egypt, Jordan and Syria, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), together with other groups, notably the National Front for the Liberation of Palestine, created the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, led by Georges Habash. However, one year later in 1968, Ahmed Jibril disagreed with Georges Habash on the nature of their struggle against Israel; Jibril wanted to focus on an armed struggle, not in a political process. Consequently, Jibril created in 1968 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.

Relationship with the international community

The PFLP-GC is considered as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

Books

  • Atkins, Stephen E. (2004), Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), available at link.
  • Baud, Jacques (2003), Encyclopédie des terrorismes et violences politiques (Paris: Lavauzelle).
  • Cordesman, Anthony H (2005), The Israeli-Palestinian War: Escalating to Nowhere (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), available at link
  • Sayigh, Yezid (1999), Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993 (New York: Oxford University Press).
     

 

Articles and Chapters

  • Strindberg, Anders, “The Damascus-Based Alliance of Palestinian Forces: A Primer,” 29.3 Journal of Palestine Studies (2000), at 60-76
  • Suleiman, Jaber, “The Current Political, Organizational, and Security Situation in the Palestinian Refugee Camps of Lebanon,” 29.1 Journal of Palestine Studies (1999), at 66-80.
     

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

  • EU Council, Common Position 2006/380/CFSP of 29 May 2006, Official Journal of the European Communities L 144/25, 31.5.2006.
  • The Secretary General, Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (for the period from 21 January to 21 July 2004), 21 July 2004, UN Doc. S/2004/572.
  • The Secretary General, Report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), 28 June 2007, UN Doc. S/2007/392.
  • The Secretary General, Sixth Semi-annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559 (2004), 24 October 2007, UN Doc. S/2007/629.
     

Governmental reports

  • CRS Report for Congress, Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses, Washington DC, 25 August 2006, available at link
  • Identical Letters Dated 12 June 2007 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations Addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, in General Assembly, 12 June 2007, UN Doc. A/61/953.
  • Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Country Reports on Terrorism, Washington DC, 28 April 2006, available at link.
  • U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Fact Sheet Office of Counterterrorism, Washington, DC, 11 October 2005, at link
     

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations

  • Council of Foreign Relations, PFLP, DFLP, PFLP-GC, Palestinian Leftists, 31 October 2005, available at link
  • National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -General Command (PFLP-GC), available at link.
     

Press Information (in chronological order)

  • “Gaddafi Tries to Mediate in PLO Rift,” The Independent, 31 October 1989.
  • “Poised to Strike,” The Jerusalem Report, 12 November 1993.
  • “Israel’s 10 Most Wanted Terrorists,” The Jerusalem Report, 20 October 1994.
  • “Mideast: Popular Front Leader Says Front, Libya Supplied Arms,” Die Welt web site in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 10 May 2001.
  • “Santorini Arms Ship Completed Three Smuggling Trips Before Israel Intercepted It,” The Jerusalem Report, 18 November 2002.
  • “Next Wave of Terror Targets: Will They Be at Sea?” The Straits Times, 15 September 2003.
  • “US and Syria in Head-on Clash,” Scotland on Sunday, 12 October 2003.
  • “Palestinian Group Claim Attacks on Israeli Targets; Israeli Raids Reported,” Ma’an News Agency in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 13 April 2007.
  • “PFLP-GC Leader Views Palestinian Arms in Lebanon, Contacts with Al-Hariri,” Al-Arabiya TV in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 18 April 2006.
  • “Palestinian Leader, PFLP Officials Discuss Forming New Government,” Al-Hayat al-Jadidah in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 15 March 2007.
  • “PFLP-GC Reportedly Joins Fatah al-Islam Against Lebanese Army,” The Daily Star in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 31 May 2007.
  • “More Clashes as Second Radical Group Joins Attacks in Lebanon,” The Times, 5 June 2007.
  • “UK Arabic Paper Moots Possible Plan to Activate ‘Sleeping Cells’ in Lebanon,” Al-Hayat in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 5 June 2007.
  • “Palestinian PFLP-GC Spokesman on Lebanon Camp Incidents,” Al-Arabiya in BBC Monitoring Middle East, 10 June 2007.

 

Interviews

Internet resources

  • PFLP-GC website, available at link

Statements of the armed group

Agreements involving armed groups