Senior PFLP operative arrested in Nablus raid

A senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine believed to be responsible for coordinating numerous attacks on IDF troops, as well as planning suicide bombings and building explosive devices, was arrested early Saturday morning.

In a joint operation, IDF special forces and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) detained Majdi Tzubhi Kasam Mabruk, 31, in the Ein Beit Ilma Refugee Camp in Nablus, where he was believed to command the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigade, the PFLP's military arm.

During the arrest, security forces came under fire, but no casualties or damage were reported. Mabruk was in possession of an M-16 automatic rifle equipped with a telescopic sight, a grenade and 15 full ammunition clips when he was arrested.

Security forces said that Mabruk had been involved in a number of attacks against Israeli forces in recent years, including planning suicide operations to be launched from Nablus, as well as planning and carrying out shooting attacks against IDF soldiers operating in the refugee camp. The IDF noted that some of the attacks coordinated by Mabruk had caused casualties to IDF troops.

Mabruk was also allegedly involved in building explosive devices, in cooperation with Hamas operatives also active in the Nablus camp.

In addition to preparing - and carrying out - attacks, security forces say that Mabruk recruited new volunteers from neighboring villages and smuggled them weapons with which to carry out shooting attacks on the roads surrounding Nablus.

"Majdi Mabruk supplied firearms, explosive devices and ammunition to many terror operatives which were used in attacks against our forces," said spokesmen from the IDF's Central Command following the his arrest.

Overnight Thursday, IDF forces operating in the West Bank arrested 10 wanted Palestinians - four in Aatil, southwest of Jenin, two in Zeita, also southwest of Jenin, two in Kalkilya, and one each in Abu Dis and Tzurif in the Jerusalem area.

Hours later, on Friday evening, IDF troops at the Bekaot checkpoint noticed a Palestinian who appeared suspicious. The soldiers searched him and discovered a 25-cm.-long knife concealed on his person. The knife was confiscated and the man was transferred to security forces for interrogation.

Former Guerrilla Leader Habash died at age 81

AMMAN, Jordan -- George Habash, whose radical PLO faction gained notoriety after the simultaneous hijackings of four Western airliners in 1970 and the seizure of an Air France flight to Entebbe, Uganda, died Saturday in Jordan. He was 81.

The former guerrilla leader -- whose rivalry with Yasser Arafat spurred him to start the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- died of a heart attack in Amman, where he had been living since 1992.

Born to a Christian Arab family, Mr. Habash opposed Arab-Israeli peace talks. His group was the second-largest in the PLO after Fatah, the faction of Arafat and current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr. Abbas declared three-day mourning period for Mr. Habash and ordered flags to fly at half-staff. He called Mr. Habash a "historic leader" and said he would receive condolences at his Ramallah office Sunday evening. Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, said Mr. Habash "spent his life defending Palestine." Gazans fired guns into the air as news of his death spread late Saturday.

Mr. Habash and his group gained notoriety for the 1970 hijackings of four Western airliners over the U.S., Europe, the Far East and the Persian Gulf. The aircraft were blown up in the Middle East after passengers and crews disembarked.

Mr. Habash promoted the Palestinian cause through terrorist attacks in the 1970s, including the 1976 hijacking of an Air France airliner to Entebbe, Uganda, where four civilians were killed during a rescue operation by Israeli paratroopers.

The group also was responsible for gunning down 27 people at Israel's Lod airport in May 1972. And it was credited with one of the first Palestinian hijackings, of an Israeli El Al flight from Rome to Tel Aviv in 1968. PFLP Gunmen ordered it flown to Algeria, but no one was hurt.

Mr. Habash, a Marxist and more of an ideologue more than a warrior, didn't mastermind the attacks, although he probably condoned most of them. But he became a prime target for Israel's secret service.

An uncompromising revolutionary, particularly after the Arabs' catastrophic defeat by Israel in 1967, he refused to unconditionally ally himself with any Arab regime, unlike many of his contemporaries.

Mr. Habash fled his hometown of Lydda, in what is now Israel, in 1948 and went on to graduate first in his 1951 class at the American University of Beirut. He launched the Popular Front in December 1967, six months after the Arabs lost the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights to Israel. The current deputy secretary-general of the PFLP, Abdel Raheem Mallouh, called Mr. Habash a "distinguished leader ... who struggled for more than 60 years without a stop for the rights and the interests of his people."

Mr. Habash opposed interim peace agreements with Israel, in part because they didn't require Israel to stop settlement construction. Throughout his life, he supported the use of violence against Israel, arguing that Israel wouldn't make the concessions required for a peace agreement. However, since the early 1980s, he came to support the PLO platform, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the occupied territories and a "right of return" of Palestinian refugees.

Mr. Habash frequently criticized Mr. Arafat, particularly during his attempts to negotiate with Israel. And it was the PFLP's hijackings that did much to shape the image of the PLO as a terrorist organization. Israel refused to negotiate with it as a result.

The Israelis hunted Mr. Habash for years. An Israeli Mirage fighter intercepted a Lebanese Caravelle airliner flying from Beirut to Baghdad in August 1973, believing Mr. Habash and his top lieutenants were on board. But after the plane was forced down, the Israelis didn't find Mr. Habash and his men among the 74 passengers. Mr. Habash had felt unwell and changed his travel plans at the last minute.

In recent years, Mr. Habash was mostly bedridden, with partial paralysis on his right side caused by brain surgery he underwent in France. Earlier this week, he checked into a hospital in Amman, complaining of fatigue. Mr. Habash died of a severe heart attack Saturday, days after he underwent a surgery to implant a stent, said his surgeon Dr. Harran Zreiqat.

Several PFLP members, along with Mr. Habash's relatives, gathered late Saturday in a closed room at the hospital where he died. Funeral arrangements were under way, and Habash was likely to be buried in Jordan, said longtime PFLP member Leila Khaled.