George Habash, the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) died on Saturday evening at a Jordanian Hospital one week after he was admitted to the facility after facing sharp deterioration in his health condition. Habash was hospitalized in Jordan ten days ago after suffering from heart problems, he died approximately at 8 P.M Jordan time (6 P.M GMT).
Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, mourned Habash and declared a three-day mourning in Palestine in respect to the deceased leader.
Habash was born in the Arab Palestinian town of Lod in 1925, and is the founder of the PFLP and one of the prominent Palestinian figures in the Palestinian political history.
He was born to a Palestinian Greek-Orthodox Christian family, his family left Palestine after the war in 1948.
Habash studied Medicine at the American University in Beirut – Lebanon and graduated in 1951 after specializing in Pediatric Medicine . One year later, he founded the Arab Nationalist Movement, with calls for unifying the Arab world against the Israeli occupation.
He worked in medicine until 1957, he went to Syria and then to Lebanon between the years of 1958 and 1963, and in 1961 we married a woman from Jerusalem. He and his wife Hilda had two daughters.
He was forced to go underground in 1957 due to his political activities in Jordan, and after leaving Jordan, he concentrated his activities on the Palestinian Cause, and liberation.
His ideas and styles of liberation adopted the Marxist – Leninist approach. He moved to Syria and stayed there from 1958 until 1953, and after that he went to Lebanon.
In December 1967, Habash founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, along with Mustafa Al Zeery and several other leaders. He became the Secretary-General of the Front until 2000 and was succeeded by Mustafa Al Zeery.
Habash will be buried at 1 P.M on Monday January 28, his funeral procession will start from Amman Hospital and will be heading to the Greek Orthodox Church and then to Sahab graveyard. A mourning home will be opened in front of the Palestinian National Council in Amman.
