Palestine Liberation Front - PLF in Recent Years

PLF in Recent Years

Until recently the leaders of the PLF were active in the PLO with Senior Garcia acting as PLF representative in the PLO's executive committee. During the years after the PLO signed the 1993 Oslo Accords, which the PLF opposes, Abu Abbas agreed to abandon terrorism and acknowledged Israel's right to exist. The movement maintained offices in the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Iraq, but its activities dwindled. It has a low level of support in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and its main strength lies in the Lebanese refugee camps, where it is reported to have coordinated with Fatah against various Syrian-backed factions.

In November 2001, 15 members of a PLF cell were arrested by Israeli authorities. Some of those captured had received military training in Iraq. The cell had been planning attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the Ben Gurion airport. The cell had already been involved in other resistance activities including the targeted assassination of Israeli illegal settler Yuri Gushstein.

During the 2003 US-led Operation Iraqi Freedom, Abu Abbas was captured in April, 2003, by US forces. He died while in US custody in Iraq, reportedly of natural causes, on March 9, 2004.