Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) -- Umbrella Organization
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command (PFLP-GC) -- Founding Group

<a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=IZ">Iraq</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=LE">Lebanon</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=LY">Libya</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=TS">Tunisia</a>

The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) was first established in 1959 by Ahmad Jibril, but by 1968 had been absorbed into Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine  --  General Command (PFLP-GC), after his group split from the main PFLP faction.  The PLF became a separate entity again, remaining focused on the destruction of Israel, in 1977, when Muhammad Zaidan (Abu Abbas) broke from the PFLP-GC.  The group split again in 1983 into pro-PLO and pro-Syrian factions, with the pro-Syrian bloc undergoing another split in 1984, which resulted in one faction moving to Libya.  All factions retained the name Palestine Liberation Front and claimed to act for the group as a whole.  The majority of the PLF's attacks against Israel were carried out from Southern Lebanon.<br /><P><br />Abbas's Tunisia-based pro-PLO faction became the most well-known in 1985 with the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship <i>Achille Lauro</i>.  During the hijacking, PLF terrorists murdered and dumped overboard the elderly Jewish American citizen Leon Klinghoffer.  Four PLF members were imprisoned in Italy and Abbas, who was not aboard the ship, was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia, although he was briefly held and then released by Italian authorities.  Following the <i>Achille Lauro</i> affair, Abbas's PLF faction was expelled from Tunisia and took up residence in Iraq.<br />

The PLF continued to carry out attacks against Israelis through the 80's and 90's, often employing unique techniques such as hand gliders, and even claimed a naval unit.  Abbas and the PLF did, however, support the signing of the 1993 Oslo accords, and officially renounced terrorism against Israel.  Abbas was permitted to move back to Gaza in 1996 under an Oslo-related Amnesty program.  PLF involvement in terrorism was still suspected after 1993 due to the group's distribution of Iraqi funds to Palestinian suicide bombers.<br /><P><br />Abbas, who had moved back to Baghdad in 2000, also denounced the 9-11 attacks on the US, claiming that the Palestinian struggle is separate from al-Qaeda's holy war.  He was captured by US Special Forces in April, 2003, and died in US custody in March, 2004, from natural causes.