The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF, occasionally abbr. PSF) (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: جبهة النضال الشعبي الفلسطيني, ''Jabhet Al-Nedal Al-Sha'abi Al-Falestini'') is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

political party. Samir Ghawshah was elected secretary-general of PPSF in 1971 and led it until his death in 2009. He was succeeded by Ahmed Majdalani on 8 August 2009. PPSF holds a seat on the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO) executive council, though it is generally considered to have a limited influence over Palestinian politics.

Early history

The PPSF was founded as the Palestinian Popular Struggle Organization (PPSO) in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

in 1967 by Bahjat Abu Gharbieh, a former

Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...

, following a split from the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

(PFLP). It had close ties to

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

, and in 1971 it officially became a Fatah-affiliated organization. It fell out with Yasir Arafat in 1973, and left Fatah to act independently. In 1974 PPSF left the PLO to become a founding member of the Rejectionist Front with other radical

factions who rejected the Ten Point Program adopted by the

(PLO). In 1969, the organization attacked civilian Israeli and Greek passengers in Athens Airport in 1969 which resulted in 14 injures and one dead child. A year later, the organization also hijacked Olympic Airways Flight 255 from

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Lebanon en route to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. The hijackers ordered the flight flown to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, Egypt with five crew members. Initially close to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

after its break with Fatah, it eventually slipped into decline. In 1982 it was revived jointly by

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, in an attempt to bolster hardliner and anti-Arafat forces in the PLO (Syria was simultaneously fighting the PLO in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

). Members of the PPSF were mentioned as possible suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie Bombing, believed to have been orchestrated by the Libyan regime, but Samir Ghawshah denied the charges.

Reconciliation with PLO and PNA politics

In 1991, PPSF was allowed to rejoin the PLO after accepting United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 and the concept of negotiations with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Ghawshah gained a seat on the

PLO Executive Committee The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO EC; ) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and acts as the Palestinian government, government of the State of Palestine.

. The PPSF split into two, the main group, the Samir Ghawsha faction, accepted the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a c ...

(PNA), while Khalid ‘Abd al-Majid's parallel PPSF opposed it from exile in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, Syria. The Samir Ghawsha faction of PPSF took part in the 1996 Palestinian legislative elections with 12 candidates. Together they got 0.76% of the national vote. The faction also took part in the

2006 Palestinian legislative election Legislative elections were held in the Palestinian territories on 25 January 2006 in order to elect the second Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The result was a victory for Hama ...

as part of the " Freedom and Social Justice" list, which got 7,127 votes (0.72%) and failed to win a seat. In June 2018 the party was admitted to the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

as consultative member.

Front organizations

The PPSF maintains five front organizations; the Workers Struggle Bloc, Palestinian Struggle Youth Union, Students Struggle Bloc, Women's Struggle Bloc and Teachers Struggle Bloc. PPSF publishes ''Sawt an-Nidhal'' (Voice of the Struggle).

References

External links

PPSF homepage
{{Authority control 1967 establishments in Palestine Anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine Palestinian militant groups Political parties established in 1967

Early history

Reconciliation with PLO and PNA politics

Front organizations

See also

References

External links