A leading Palestinian insurgency group with Marxist-Leninist roots has turned to Islamic rhetoric and multiple state sponsors in its struggle for survival.
A report by the Washington-based Center for Defense Information said the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command has expanded
its range of sponsors from Syria to a group of countries that include Iran
and Libya.
Syria has reduced aid to groups deemed by the State Department as terrorists, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Multiple state sponsors made it much more difficult for European
authorities to solidly connect the PFLP-GC's terrorist activities to any one
of its supporting governments," the report, authored by Sofia Aldape, said.
"In 1988, elements of Libyan intelligence were charged with the bombing of
Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, although substantial evidence
implicated the PFLP-GC."
The group was founded in 1968 as a pan-Arab, Marxist-Leninist group that
focused on military rather than political solutions to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group was established by Syrian Army Capt.
Ahmed Jibril as an outgrowth of Damascus's policy on the Palestinians and
hijacked airliners and killed Israeli civilians in the 1970s. In the 1980s,
Syria used the PFLP-GC to drive PLO chairman Yasser Arafat out of Lebanon.
The report said that in the 1980s Syria increasingly used the PFLP-GC
for attacks on civilians. When Syria could not afford to finance the
organization, Libyan ruler Mohammar Khaddafy provided sponsorship and sent
the PFLP-GC on missions against Israeli and Western targets. In 1989, the
group was expelled from Libya, the report said.
"Soon after, the PFLP-GC began receiving funds from Teheran, after which
it began using religious rhetoric uncharacteristic of a secular Marxist
organization," the report said. "Throughout the 1990's, PFLP-GC activity
declined."
The report said Syria has banned the PFLP-GC from operating
internationally. Instead, the regime in Damascus has used the organization
to militarily settle local disputes.
"The group continued to launch a few operations against Palestinian
groups that aligned themselves with Arafat, but was mainly active in
providing training and equipment for more influential Palestinian groups,
such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad," the report said. "The PFLP-GC
continued to function as a key provider of training and arms from Iran and
Syria to Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
The report said the PFLP-GC has launched rocket attacks into Israel this
year as part of a Syrian protest of being left out of U.S.-led peace
efforts. Since June, the report said, Lebanon and Syria have restrained
Jibril's organization.
"Since then, the PFLP-GC has not launched any further attacks, although
the group continues to talk tough and provide arms and training to
Palestinian groups," the report said.
