22 Oct 2020; MEMO: The Israeli occupation authorities on Wednesday banned the student branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the occupied West Bank, calling it an “illegal and terrorist” organisation, Quds Press reported.
According to Quds Press, the Israeli army announced in a statement that the PFLP’s student branch: “Has been a terrorist organisation for years and has carried out action that caused the killing of several Israeli citizens, as well as the assassination of the late Israeli Minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001.”
The statement added: “In recent years, the PFLP has been recruiting student cells in the West Bank universities in order to carry out attacks.”
In the same statement, the Israeli army announced the detention of six Palestinians over claims of affiliation with the PFLP.
The PFLP was established in 1967 as an extension of the Arab Nationalist Movement, adopting Marxism. It joined the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1968 and was famous for hijacking planes in the 1970s. It was then divided into three branches.
Its founder and Secretary-General George Habash resigned in 2000. His successor Mustafa Al-Zubri, from the West Bank, was assassinated by Israel in 2001.
