Former Arafat rival dies

George Habash, a long-time rival of Yasser Arafat who led the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s second-largest faction which pioneered aeroplane hijackings, died today in Jordan. He was 81.

“He had a severe heart attack and he died instantly,” said Leila Khaled, a member of the Palestine National Council and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Mr Habash founded.

Ms Khaled spoke by telephone from Jordan Hospital in Amman, where she said Habash died.

The PFLP’s spokesman in Damascus, Maher al-Taher, confirmed Mr Habash’s death.

The former guerrilla leader had been living in Amman since 1992, Mr al-Taher said.

The leader and his group gained notoriety for the hijackings in 1970 of four Western airliners over the US, Europe, the Far East and the Persian Gulf.

The aircraft were blown up in the Middle East after passengers and crews disembarked.