Ahmad Jibril, historical figure in Palestinian politics, is dead
The leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Commander, Ahmad Jibril (right), and the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, in Damascus on September 27, 2001. Louai Beshara AFP / File
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Ahmad Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Commander, an organization fiercely hostile to peace negotiations with Israel, died Wednesday in Damascus at the age of 83, “
of natural causes
”.
He was one of the last surviving Palestinian historical leaders.
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With our correspondent in Beirut,
Paul Khalifeh
Life continued normally in the 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon after the news of Ahmad Jibril's death was announced, although he is considered one of the oldest activists of the Palestinian cause.
Hezbollah paid tribute to a man who had "
a life full of resistance and sacrifice on the road to Palestine
."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas offered his condolences over the phone to No. 2 of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, PFLP-CG, Talal Naji, who resides in Damascus.
Yet Ahmad Jibril was one of the fiercest opponents of the peace negotiations with Israel.
He even threatened the historic leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, with death after the signing of the Oslo agreement in the early 1990s.
The PFLP-CG was accused in the 1970s and 1980s of several hijackings and attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
At the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Ahmad Jibril sided with President Bashar al-Assad, and his men fought alongside the Syrian army on several fronts.
The PFLP-CG is the only Palestinian organization that still has a military presence outside the camps in Lebanon, including a base in the coastal town of Naame, 20 kilometers south of Beirut.
The PFLP-CG is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
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Palestinian territories
Mahmoud Abbas
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