PFLP founder George Habash dies

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - George Habash, the founder of a radical movement that staged hijackings and kidnappings to highlight the Palestinian struggle, died in Jordan on Saturday, his family said. He was 80.

Habash founded the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1968. A refugee from fighting which broke out over the creation of Israel in 1948 in British-ruled Palestine, he lived in exile and succumbed to a heart condition in a hospital in Amman, his doctor said.

The PFLP favours armed struggle to establish a Palestinian state and found itself sidelined in 1993 when Yasser Arafat, then leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), signed interim peace deals with Israel.

Scores of supporters thronged the hospital to offer their condolences to his wife Hilda and his two daughters.

"We will all carry the banner of Habash and the Arab nation he dearly cherished. Habash always believed Palestine would be liberated," Hilda Habash told Reuters.

She said Habash, who was hospitalised five days ago, was until the last hours of his life following events in the Palestinian territories and was deeply moved by the humanitarian plight of Gazans who are under an Israeli blockade.

"He lived for his people and died for his people," she said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's office declared a 3-day mourning period for Habash. Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior Abbas aide, paid tribute to him as a "historical leader".