The Palestinian Liberation Front ( ar, جبهة التحرير الفلسطينية), sometimes referred to as the Palestinian Liberation Front (Abu Nidal Ashqar wing) ( ar, جبهة التحرير الفلسطينية (جناح أبو نضال الأشقر))), is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

political faction led by Abu Nidal Ashqar.

Profile

The organization is based in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. It has practically no presence inside Palestine proper. Ideologically the group follows an

Arab nationalist Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and ...

line.

History

The group emerged from a split in the

Palestinian Liberation Front The Palestinian Liberation Front ( ar, جبهة التحرير الفلسطينية, PLF) is a Palestinian political faction. Since 1997, the PLF has been a designated terrorist organization by the United States and by Canada since 2003. The P ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

in 1983 as Col.

Abu Musa , location = Persian Gulf , coordinates = , total_islands = 1 , area_km2 = 12.8 , highest_mount = Mount Halva , elevation_m = 110 , country = Iran , country_admin_divisions_title = Province , cou ...

revolted against

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

's leadership and the old PLF was divided into three (one group led by Abu Abbas supported Yasser Arafat, one group led by Abd ul-Fattah Ghanim supported Abu Musa and the third group led by Talat Yaqub sought to remain neutral in this conflict). The PLF (Abu Nidal Ashqar wing) emerged from the latter group.Strindberg, Anders.
The Damascus-Based Alliance of Palestinian Forces: A Primer
', in ''Journal of Palestine Studies'', Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring, 2000), pp. 60–76. University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies In 1983 the group joined the

PFLP The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary so ...

DFLP The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ar, الجبهة الديموقراطية لتحرير فلسطين, ''al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn'') is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organiz ...

and the Palestinian Communist Party in forming the Democratic Alliance in

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 peopl ...

. The Democratic Alliance expressed willingness to engage in dialogue with Arafat. In January 1984 the PLF office in Damascus was stormed by the Ghanim faction and Talat Yaqub was held hostage. Yaqub was released after Syrian intervention and the Ghanim faction relocated to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. The PLF (Talat Yaqub) broke relations with PLO over the

Amman Agreement Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

. Along with the PFLP, the group left the Democratic Alliance and joined the pro-Syrian Palestinian National Salvation Front instead. Relations with PLO were re-initiated at the start of the

First Intifada The First Intifada, or First Palestinian Intifada (also known simply as the intifada or intifadah),The word ''wikt:intifada, intifada'' () is an Arabic word meaning "wikt:uprising, uprising". Its strict Arabic transliteration is '. was a sus ...

. At the 18th session of the

Palestinian National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC) ( ar, المجلس الوطني الفلسطيني, "'Almajlis Alwataniu Alfilastiniu"') is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and elects the PLO Executive Committee, which ...

, a plan to reunify the Talat Yaqub and Abu Abbas wings was announced. In June 1988 a merger with the Abu Abbas faction was announced, with Talat Yaqub as general secretary and Abu Abbas as deputy general secretary. However, the two factions have continued to function separately.

Leadership

Talat Yaqub became the general secretary of this PLF faction. Yaqub died in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

on November 17, 1988. After his death Yusuf Muqtah (Abu Nidal Ashqar) took over the leadership of the organization.Al-Khiyam
مخيم عين الحلوة عاصمة الشتات الفلسطيني
/ref> He holds the title of Deputy General Secretary of the organization.مركز الاعلام والدراسات الفلسطينية
البيان الختامي الصادر عن المؤتمر العربي العام لدعم انتفاضة الشعب الفلسطيني – الدورة السادسة
/ref> As of 2010 Ali Aziz was a member of the political bureau of the organization. As of 2015 Mohammad Yassin was the representative of the organization in Lebanon. As of 2007 the representative of the organization in

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

was Walid Jumaa.saidanet.com
اعتصامان لمناسبة اليوم العالمي لمناهضة التعذيب في صيدا

Relations to other factions

PLF (Talat Yaqub/Abu Nidal Ashqar wing) was a member of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...

alongside the PLF (Abu Abbas wing). In 1993 the PLF (Abu Nidal Ashqar wing) rejected the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

and left the PLO for the anti-Oslo

Alliance of Palestinian Forces The Alliance of Palestinian Forces ( ar, تحالف القوى الفلسطينية, abbreviated APF) is a loose Damascus-based alliance of eight Palestinian political factions. The Alliance was created in Damascus in December 1993 by ten Palesti ...

(APF).

Armed wing

As of 1999 the organization claimed to have 200 fighters in

South Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distric ...

, but that they had been put on reserve in 1993.

References

{{Palestinian political parties Arab nationalism in the Palestinian territories Arab nationalist militant groups Arab nationalist political parties Former factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian militant groups Palestinian nationalist parties Political parties established in 1983 Socialist parties in the Palestinian territories