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Letter to the editor

His PLO faction hijacked planes

George Habash, head of a radical group, dies at 81.

George Habash, whose radical PLO faction gained notoriety after the simultaneous hijackings of four Western airliners in 1970 and the seizure of an Air France flight to Entebbe, Uganda, died Saturday in Jordan. He was believed to be 82.

The former guerrilla leader, whose rivalry with Yasser Arafat spurred him to start the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1967, died of a heart attack in Amman, Jordan, said Leila Khaled, a longtime PFLP member.

Born to a Christian Arab family, Mr. Habash opposed Arab-Israeli peace talks. His group was the second-largest in the PLO after Fatah, the faction of Arafat and current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas called Mr. Habash a "historic leader" and declared a three-day mourning period.

Mr. Habash and his group gained notoriety for the 1970 hijackings of four Western airliners over the United States, Europe, the Far East and the Persian Gulf. The aircraft were blown up in the Middle East after passengers and crews disembarked.

He promoted the Palestinian cause through terrorist attacks in the 1970s, including the hijacking of an Air France airliner to Entebbe, where four civilians were killed in a rescue operation. Mr. Habash's group also was responsible for gunning down 27 people at Israel's Lod airport in May 1972.

Mr. Habash did not mastermind the attacks, but he became a target for Israel's secret service and was hunted for years.

Information from the New York Times was used in this report.

[Last modified January 27, 2008, 02:15:38]