By Xinhua
Gaza : Palestinian factions on Sunday mourned former chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) George Habash who passed away in a Jordanian hospital on Saturday night.
Hamas leader Ismail Haneya in a statement that “Dr. George Habash spent all his life struggling for the cause of the Palestinian people,” adding that Hamas and the deposed government mourn Habash’s passing away.
Several Palestinian factions, including the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Islamic Jihad (HolyWar), mourned Habash, saying that the Palestinian people had lost “another real leader.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement also mourned Habash, saying the Palestinian people had lost a Palestinian leader that devoted his life struggling for his people and “for the fair Palestinian cause.”
The PFLP announced in a statement that Habash, who is a Palestinian Christian, will be buried on Monday in a grave yard in the Jordanian capital Amman.
The group said the wake for Habash will be set up at the Palestinian National Council (PNC) headquarters in Amman for receiving mourners.
Habash was born in 1926 in Lydda, Palestinian territory. He was educated at the American University of Beirut. In 1948, he became a member of the Youth of Vengeance and took part in the Arab Nationalists’ Movement in the early 1950’s.
He practiced medicine from 1952 to 1957 in Jordan and became secretary general of the PFLP in November 1967.
Habash had been living in Amman with his wife since 1992 and retired in July 2000 from the PFLP because of his poor health, but he remained active in the PFLP’s internal politics.