ationalist Movement in the early 1950's. The members of the movement dedicated themselves to a campaign to take Palestine back from the Israelis. Prior to the Six-Day War, their methods had been peaceful but soon after, fuelled by bitterness over their nations humiliating defeat, Haddad formed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and introduced a new manifesto - The Liberation of Palestine by acts of violence against the State of Israel. The basic doctrine of the organization was Marxist; the new method used to achieve its ideals was international terrorism. The first such act was in 1968 when armed terrorists hijacked an El Al 707 passenger aircraft that was en route from Rome to Tel Aviv. The aircraft was forced to land in Algiers where the terrorists took the passengers hostage in exchange for the release of sixteen Palestinians who were serving time in Israeli jails. Initially, the Israeli government refused to negotiate with the terrorists but after a month had passed they changed their mind and acceded to the Palestinian requests. The aircraft passengers were released unharmed but not before the Israeli's had suffered a humiliating defeat of their own. Wadi Haddad News of Haddad's achievements spread quickly throughout the world and in the years that followed other terrorist groups aligned themselves with his cause including Germany's Baader-Meinhof gang and Italy's Red Brigade. The Popular Front also made a favorable impression on the KGB, which resulted in direct support from Moscow. It was through this alliance with Russia that Ilich first became involved with the Popular Front. Rifaat Abul Auon, Haddad's representative in Moscow, met with Ilich and subsequently invited him and a select group of his fellow students to attend a terrorist training camp in Jordan. Intrigued by the offer, Ilich left Moscow in July 1970 to travel to the Middle East.His first stop was Beirut where he arrived unannounced at the...
