SUMMARY
The PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command; Al-Jabna Al-Shabiyya li-Tahrir Filastin - General Command) was a separatist rebel group that fought an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of Israel. The group’s primary objective was to achieve an independent Palestinian state based on Palestine’s historical border; the PFLP-GC rejected all forms of “two-state solutions” to the conflict.
The PFLP-GC was created in 1968 as a splinter group of the PFLP on the initiative of Ahmed Jibril, who was a PFLP official and former officer of the Syrian Army. Nominally, the group was of secular Marxist orientation; however, the PFLP-GC adopted some religious rhetoric during the 1980s. Unlike its parent group, the PFLP, the PFLP-GC openly stated that it preferred a militant approach rather than a political one. Allegedly, it was this difference that led to the split between Jibril and PFLP leader George Habash in 1968. In general, the PFLP-GC was considered one of the most hardline and one of the most pro-Syrian Palestinian factions. Furthermore, the PFLP-GC was staunchly opposed to Yasser Arafat, the leader of fellow Palestinian groups Fatah and PLO; the group perceived him as too willing to compromise and negotiate with Israel.
Throughout its existence, the group has been responsible for many high-profile terrorist attacks, such as the destruction of a Swiss airliner in 1970, and a hang-glider attack against Israel in 1987; the PFLP-GC has, against its own denial, also been implicated as responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. While the group has not ceased to exist, it has been largely militarily inactive since the late 1980s; the PFLP-GC also began to lose influence after the creation of the PNA in 1994.
Ahmed Jabril has been the leader of PFLP-GC since 1968. In 1989, it was estimated that the group had 500-2000 fighters.
The PFLP-GC was initially a member of PLO, but the group was formally expelled from the organization in 1984 because of its anti-PLO orientation. Given the group’s strong anti-Arafat orientation, the PFLP-GC joined the Rejectionist Front in 1974, and the Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF) in 1993; both these alliances were formed as reactions against decisions by the PLO/Fatah to negotiate with the Government of Israel. It is worth noting that neither the Rejectionist Front nor the APF were groups with central decision-making bodies, but rather loose frameworks; the PFLP-GC thus existed as an independent group when part of these organizations.
Syria provided the PFLP-GC with logistic support, and allowed the group to maintain bases on its territory, such as in the Bekaa Valley; the PFLP-GC headquarters were located in Damascus. The PFLP-GC also likely received support from Libya, which was known to supply various Palestinian factions with funding and materiel.
