Leila Khaled in the 1970s

Leila Khaled (Arabic: ليلى خالد laylà ẖālid; born April 9, 1944) is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), part of the secular, leftwing Palestinian rejectionist front. She is currently a member of the Palestinian National Council. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... International Rejectionism is a political theory centred around the belief that the only way for the world to function successfully is for the current order to be rejected and overthrown in an international revolution. ... The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is the parliament in exile of the Palestinian people. ...

Khaled came to public attention for her role in a 1969 hijacking and one of four simultaneous hijackings the following year as part of the Black September timeline. In August 1969, leaders in the Palestinian left-wing organization PFLP learned that Yitzak Rabin, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States was scheduled to be aboard the flight. ... Main article: Black September in Jordan The Dawsons Field hijacking occurred on September 6, 1970. ... Combatants PLO Jordan Commanders Yasser Arafat King Hussein Casualties 7,000-8,000 killed[1] This article, Black September in Jordan, describes the events surrounding September, 1970 in Jordan. ...

Early life

Khaled was born in 1944 in Haifa, then part of the British Mandate of Palestine. When the Arabs rejected the 1947 UN Partition Plan, fighting broke out between the Arabs and Jews. Khaled's family fled to Lebanon in 1948, leaving her father behind. At the age of 15, Khaled became one of the first to join the radical pan-Arab Arab Nationalist Movement, originally started in the late 1940s by George Habash, then a medical student at the American University of Beirut. The Palestinian branch of this movement became the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine after the 1967 Six-Day War. Hebrew חֵיפָה Arabic حَيْفَا Founded in 3rd century CE Government City District Haifa Population 267,000 1,039,000 (metropolitan area) Jurisdiction 63,666 dunams (63. ... Flag The approximate borders of the British Mandate circa 1922. ... Languages Arabic other minority languages Religions Predomiantly Sunni Islam, as well as Shia Islam, Greek Orthodoxy, Greek Catholicism, Alawite Islam, Druzism, Ibadi Islam, and Judaism Footnotes a Mainly in Antakya. ... On 29 November 1947 the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine or United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, a plan to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine, was approved by the United Nations General Assembly. ... The Arab Nationalist Movement (Harakat al-Qawmiyyin al-Arab), also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Arab world, most famously so within the Palestinian movement. ... George Habash (Arabic جورج حبش) (born August 2, 1926 in Lod), sometimes known by his nom de guerre Al-Hakim, الحكيم, meaning the doctor, is a Palestinian politician, formerly a militant, and the founder and former Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. ... The American University of Beirut (AUB; Arabic: ) is a private, independent, non-sectarian university in Beirut, Lebanon. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants Israel Egypt Syria Jordan Iraq Saudi Arabia Commanders Yitzhak Rabin, Moshe Dayan, Uzi Narkiss, Israel Tal, Mordechai Hod, Ariel Sharon Abdel Hakim Amer, Abdul Munim Riad, Zaid ibn Shaker, Hafez al-Assad Strength 264,000 (incl. ...

Khaled also spent some time as a teacher in Kuwait, and in her autobiography recounted crying the day she heard that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. [1] John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy, Kennedy, John Kennedy, Jack Kennedy, or JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of the United States. ...

The hijackings

On August 29, 1969 Khaled was part of a team that hijacked TWA Flight 840 on its way from Rome to Athens, diverting the Boeing 707 to Damascus. She claims she ordered the pilot to fly over Haifa, so she could see her birthplace, which she could not visit.[2] No one was injured, although the aircraft was blown up. According to some media sources, ^{[attribution needed]} the PFLP leadership thought that Yitzak Rabin, the Israeli ambassador to the United States would be on board. This was however denied, by Leila Khaled herself, amongst others. [3] After this hijacking, Khaled underwent the first of several plastic surgeries intended to conceal her identity. is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... In August 1969, leaders in the Palestinian left-wing organization PFLP learned that Yitzak Rabin, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States was scheduled to be aboard the flight. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area  - City 1,285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban 5... Athens (ancient Greek: αἱ Ἀθῆναι (plural), evolving into the modern αι Αθήναι in Greek until recently, and η Αθήνα nowadays (IPA : singular see below: Origin of the name ) is both the largest and the capital city of Greece, located in the Attica periphery. ... The Boeing 707 is a four-engine commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. ... Nickname: The Seal of the Damascus Governorate Syria Syria Governorates Damascus Governorate Government  - Governor Bishr Al Sabban Area  - City 573 km²  (221. ... Hebrew חֵיפָה Arabic حَيْفَا Founded in 3rd century CE Government City District Haifa Population 267,000 1,039,000 (metropolitan area) Jurisdiction 63,666 dunams (63. ... Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (יצחק רבין) (March 1, 1922–November 4, 1995) was an Israeli politician and military general. ...

On September 6, 1970, Khaled and Patrick Arguello, a Nicaraguan, attempted the hijack of El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York as part of the Dawson's Field hijackings; a series of almost simultaneous hijackings carried out by the PFLP. The attack was foiled when Israeli skymarshals killed Arguello before eventually overpowering Khaled. Although she was carrying two hand grenades at the time, Khaled said she had received very strict instructions not to threaten passengers on the civilian flight.[4] (Patrick Arguello, the co-hijacker, shot a member of the flight crew, and some sources^[specify] suggest both that he threw a grenade that did not detonate, and that Khaled attempted to reach her own grenades but was subdued by sky marshals before she could use them). is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Argüello in an undated photo The only hijacker killed in the Dawsons Field hijackings of 1970, Patrick Argüello had the distinction of being a Nicaraguan fighting alongside the Palestinian PFLP. // Youth Patrick was born in March 1943 to a Nicaraguan father and an American mother. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Companies of Israel | Transportation in Israel | Airlines of Israel ... Nickname: Motto: Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig (Valiant, Determined, Compassionate) Location of Amsterdam Coordinates: , Country Netherlands Province North Holland Government  - Mayor Job Cohen (PvdA)  - Aldermen Lodewijk Asscher Hennah Buyne Carolien Gehrels Tjeerd Herrema Maarten van Poelgeest Marijke Vos  - Secretary Erik Gerritsen Area [1][2]  - City 219 km²  (84. ... NY redirects here. ... Main article: Black September in Jordan The Dawsons Field hijacking occurred on September 6, 1970. ... The Israeli Security Forces are several organizations collectively responsible for Israels security. ... Argüello in an undated photo The only hijacker killed in the Dawsons Field hijackings of 1970, Patrick Argüello had the distinction of being a Nicaraguan fighting alongside the Palestinian PFLP. // Youth Patrick was born in March 1943 to a Nicaraguan father and an American mother. ...

The pilot diverted the aircraft to Heathrow airport in London, where Khaled was delivered to Ealing police station. On October 1, the British government released her as part of a prisoner exchange. The next year, the PFLP abandoned the tactic of hijacking, although splinter movements would continue to hijack airplanes. Of these hijackings, Entebbe raid in 1976 is the most famous. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Ealing is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. ... is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants  Israel  PFLP Revolutionäre Zellen  Uganda Commanders Yonatan Netanyahu† Wadie Haddad Wilfried Böse Idi Amin Strength 29 Commandos Unknown Casualties Yonatan Netanyahu killed three hostages killed five commandos wounded 6 hijackers killed 45 Ugandan soldiers killed Operation Entebbe, also known as the Entebbe incident and occasionally the Entebbe...

Later life

Khaled in Britain

Khaled has said in interviews that she developed a fondness for Britain when her first visitor in jail, an immigration officer, wanted to know why she had arrived in the country without a valid visa. She also developed a relationship with the two policewomen assigned to guard her in Ealing and later corresponded with them. Khaled continued to return to Britain for speaking engagements until as late as 2002, although she was more recently refused a visa by the British embassy to address a meeting at the Féile an Phobail in Belfast. Image File history File links Leilakhalednow. ... Image File history File links Leilakhalednow. ... Féile an Phobail is an annual festival of Irish and International culture that takes place in and around the Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ...

Khaled has said that she no longer believes in hijacking as a legitimate form of protest, though she is wary of the Arab-Israeli peace process. According to Khaled, “It’s not a peace process. It’s a political process where the balance of forces is for the Israelis and not for us. They have all the cards to play with and the Palestinians have nothing to depend on, especially when the PLO is not united." She has become involved in politics, becoming a member of the Palestinian National Council and appearing regularly at the World Social Forum. The peace process describes efforts by interested parties to effect a lasting solution to long-running conflicts, such as in Northern Ireland (see Belfast Agreement) or the Arab-Israeli conflict. ... The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is the parliament in exile of the Palestinian people. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

She divorced her first husband and married the physician Fayez Rashid, and today lives with her two sons Bader and Bashar in Amman, Jordan.[5] Location of Amman Amman (Arabic عمان ʿAmmān), the capital of the Kingdom of Jordan, is a city of more than 1. ...

She was the subject of a recent film Leila Khaled, Hijacker. [6]

In popular culture

• The song Like Leila Khaled Said from The Teardrop Explodes' 1981 album Wilder is a love song to Khaled. Songwriter Julian Cope said: "She was really one of the most beautiful girls in the whole world" [7]

• The character of savage warrior Leela from Doctor Who was named after Leila Khaled. [8]

• The song "Leila Khaled" by the Danish band Magtens Korridorer

The Teardrop Explodes (L to R) Alan Gill, Julian Cope, Gary Dwyer and David Balfe The Teardrop Explodes was a British New Wave/Neo-Psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. ... Julian Cope (born Julian David Cope, on 21 October 1957) is an Welsh rock musician, writer, antiquary, musicologist, poet and forward-thinker who came to prominence as singer of Liverpool post-punk band The Teardrop Explodes in 1978. ... Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The series depicts the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor who explores time and space in his TARDIS time ship with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ...

References

• Leila Khaled – hijacked by destiny, a Friday Times interview at Al-Jazeerah.info
• Interview with Aviation Security
• Documentary about Leila Khaled [9]

Friday Times is a weekly publication based in Lahore, Pakistan. ... Al-Jazeerah Information Center is a non-profit United States–based news and research publication, actually Islamist Propaganda site, edited by Dr. Hassan El-Najjar, a Gaza-born associate professor teaching sociology and anthropology at Dalton State College, Georgia, founded in 2001. ...

Further reading

• "A Terrorist Returns," Theodore Dalrymple, http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon_5_31_02td.html
• "I made the ring from a bullet and the pin of a hand grenade" by Katharine Viner, The Guardian, January 26, 2001
• "The guerrilla's story", BBC, January 1, 2001
• Khaled, Leila. My people shall live: the autobiography of a revolutionary. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973, ISBN 0-340-17380-7
• MacDonald, Eileen. Shoot the women first. London: Arrow Books, 1992, ISBN 0-09-913871-9
• Snow, Peter, and Phillips, David. Leila's Hijack War: The True Story of 25 days in September. London: Pan Books, 1970, ISBN 0-330-02810-3