Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE • 537During 1984 Portuguese counterterrorism units managed to arrest56 members, and in June 1984 authorities arrested the leader of thegroup, Otelo, who was then convicted on charges arising from theattacks by the FP-25 group. In July 1985 one of the key prosecutionwitnesses, a defecting FP-25 member, was murdered before he couldtestify, and in September 1985, 10 imprisoned members managedto escape. In the following year, the group made another attempt tobomb the U.S. embassy and to bombard the NATO Iberian AtlanticCommand with mortars but without success. In September 1986 agroup calling itself the Armed Revolutionary Organization appeared,which authorities believed to be the FP-25 group under a new name.According to U.S. State Department analyst Dennis Pluchinsky, theFP-25 probably ceased to exist in 1987 and was certainly defunct by1992. In 1989 Otela was amnestied, and in 1992 the Portuguese governmentgranted a general amnesty to all remaining FP-25 members.POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE(PFLP). Founded on 11 December 1967, the Jabhah al-Sha‘biyyahli-Tahrir Filastin, or Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, hasbeen the main rival of al Fatah within the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO). Led by Dr. George Habash until 29 April 2000,when he resigned in favor of Abu Ali Mustafa Zubari, the PFLPstresses Pan-Arabism and considers the Palestinian struggle as onlyone part of a broader revolution against both imperialism and reactionarypolitics within the Arab world. The organization currentlyhas about 800 members, down from about 1,000 previously, and hasoperated in Lebanon, Israel and the territories occupied by Israel, therest of the Middle East, and Europe. In the past, it received most ofits funds and weapons from Libya and Syria.The PFLP is a self-proclaimed Marxist organization and, unlike alFatah, has not refrained from intervening in the politics of Arab hostcountries. PFLP intrigues and challenges to the Jordanian regime ledeventually to the ouster of the PLO from Jordanian territory beginningin October 1970. Once the PLO relocated its forces in Lebanon,the PFLP alliance with leftist militias in Lebanon against the rightwingPhalange helped precipitate the Lebanese civil war in 1975,dragging the entire PLO into the conflict. While al Fatah has triedsince 1974 to limit its terrorist attacks to Israeli targets within theborders of the former Mandate of Palestine, and to avoid involving