Al-Hakim dead

January 26, 2008 9:42 PM

George Habash aka the Doctor, founder of the PFLP has died. The group, still extant, were notorious for various attacks in the 60s and 70s, most notably the Dawson's Field Hijackings in the early days of Black September when four planes bound for NYC were hijacked. Three were evacuated and detonated on live TV at a remote airstrip in Jordon. Leila Khaled (Mefites might better know her the inspiration for another Doctor's accomplice, Leela) and her Sandinista accomplice Patrick Argüello boarded a Swissair flight from Amsterdam posed as married Hondurans. Argüello was assaulted with a whiskey bottle and finally shot, while Leila was arrested and released as part of an exchange deal. Though the group gave up hijacking, the Japanese Red Army, armed with Czech rifles concealed in violin cases, orchestrated the Lod Airport massacre on their behalf, killing mostly mostly Puerto Rican pilgrims. The only surviving culprit, Kozo Okamoto is eventually granted refuge in Lebanon.
posted by harhailla.harhaluuossa (4 comments total)

Scary stuff: About Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y - clips
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:48 PM on January 26, 2008

This is you do an obit thread.
posted by AwkwardPause at 5:41 AM on January 27, 2008

Jordon?
posted by Horken Bazooka at 6:54 AM on January 27, 2008

That interview of Leila Khaled was interesting. I liked hearing about the events from her first hand point of view. Nice post, thanks!
posted by Eekacat at 7:12 AM on January 27, 2008