Arab Liberation Front

Political party in Palestine

Arab Liberation Front

جبهة التحرير العربية

Leader| Rakad Salem
Founded| 1969 (1969)
Headquarters| Ramallah, Palestine
Newspaper| Sawt al-Jamahir
Ideology| Ba'athism
Saddamism
National affiliation| Palestine Liberation Organization
International affiliation| Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party
Colors| Black, Red, White and Green
Palestinian Legislative Council|

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Ba'athism

Organizations

* Arab Ba'ath
* Arab Ba'ath Movement
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Variants

* Neo-Ba'athism
* Assadism
* Saddamism

People

* Aflaq
* al-Arsuzi
* Assad (Bashar)
* Assad (Hafez)
* al-Bakr
* Bitar
* al-Douri
* Ghanim
* Jadid
* al-Rikabi
* Rimawi
* Saddam

Literature

* On the Way of Resurrection
* The Battle for One Destiny
* The Genius of Arabic in Its Tongue

History

* Ba'athist Iraq

* Attempted assassination of Abdul-Karim Qasim
* Ramadan Revolution
* November 1963 coup d'état
* 17 July Revolution
* 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge
* Iran–Iraq War
* Gulf War
* Sanctions
* Iraq War
* De-Ba'athification

* Ba'athist Syria

* Syrian Committee to Help Iraq
* 1963 coup d'état
* 1966 coup d'état
* Syrian invasion of Jordan
* Corrective Revolution
* Intervention in Lebanon
* Syrian occupation of Lebanon
* Syrian civil war
* Fall of the Assad regime

Regional organizations

* Algeria
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* pro-Iraq
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* pro-Iraq
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* Libya
* pro-Iraq
* Mauritania
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* Palestine
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* Sudan
* pro-Iraq
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* Syria
* pro-Iraq
* pro-Syria
* Tunisia
* pro-Iraq
* pro-Syria
* Yemen
* pro-Iraq
* pro-Syria

Splinter groups

* Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party
* Socialist Lebanon
* Arab Revolutionary Workers Party
* Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party
* Sudanese Ba'ath Party

Armed groups

* Arab Liberation Front
* Al-Awda
* Al-Abud Network
* Jeish Muhammad
* Rejectionists
* Snake Party
* Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation
* Naqshbandi Army
* General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries
* Free Iraqi Army

Related topics

* Arab nationalism
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Arab Liberation Front (ALF; Arabic: جبهة التحرير العربية Jabhet Al-Tahrir Al-'Arabiyah) is a minor Palestinian political party, previously controlled by the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, which it founded in 1969 as its Palestinian military wing. It was based out of Iraq and trained by the Iraqi army. The ALF was from its foundation a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Its membership was not limited to Palestinians, as its senior leadership roles included several Lebanese and Jordanian volunteers.

## History and background

[edit]

The ALF was founded in April 1969, announced official in August 1969, as a front of the Iraqi-led faction of the Ba'ath Party, then led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. The ALF has always followed Iraqi government policy on all matters. In line with the pan-Arab ideology of the Ba'ath Party, the ALF was initially opposed to "Palestinization" of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, preferring to argue in terms of the wider Arab world's war with Israel, which it regarded as under the natural leadership of Iraq.

The ALF was the main group active in Iraq's small Palestinian population of approximately 34,000, but a very minor group in all other Palestinian communities. It has maintained a small following in the refugee camps of Lebanon, and has a minuscule presence in the Palestinian territories. Samir Sanunu is the representative of ALF in Lebanon.[1]

The first leader of ALF was its secretary-general, Zeid Heidar. Heidar was born in Syria in the 1930s into a family of Arab nationalists. In 1956 he joined the Ba'ath Party in Syria. In 1968 he went to Iraq after the Iraqi Baath coup of 17 July 1968 and was a part of the Ba'ath Party in Iraq. In 1969, he was appointed by the government of Iraq secretary-general of the Ba'ath Party in Palestine, the ALF. In June 1969 the ALF became a member of the newly formed PLO, a device for Iraq to be able to influence the PLO and the events in Palestine. In 1974, the ALF joined the Rejectionist Front, initially strongly backed by Iraq, which was formed by hard-line Palestinian factions which rejected what they perceived as the increasing moderation of the PLO.

After the PLO entered into the Oslo Accords with Israel, the ALF opposed the accords, in line with Iraqi Ba'athist government policy. This brought about a split in the ALF in 1993, with a pro-Arafat Oslo faction becoming the Palestinian Arab Front and re-locating to the Palestinian territories;[2] while the remainder of the ALF remaining in the Rejectionist Front.

The ALF gained some significance during the al-Aqsa Intifada, which started in 2000, as a distributor of financial contributions from the Iraqi government to families of "martyrs" with extra grants for the families of suicide bombers.[3][4]

After the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, the fall of the Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist government, and dissolution of the Ba'ath Party, large numbers of the Palestinian refugees who had been living in Iraq were forced to flee Iraq, and many ALF members fled the country for security reasons for Lebanon and the West Bank.[2]

## Leadership

[edit]

Other leaders of ALF have included Munif al-Razzaz, Abd al-Wahhab al-Kayyali and Abdel-Rahim Ahmed. al-Kayyali became secretary-general in at least 1972-74, and served on the PLO Executive Council from January 1973. He was assassinated in Beirut in 1981 by unidentified gunmen.[5] Ahmed was the secretary-general from 1975 (possibly 1974) until his death in 1991, and was a member of PLO Executive Council from 1977.[6] The present secretary-general is Rakad Salem (Abu Mahmoud) who was held in Israeli jail between 2001 and 2006.[7]

## Present situation

[edit]

Today, the secretary-general of ALF continues to be Rakad Salem, who holds Iraqi citizenship. He was imprisoned by Israel in 2001 for distributing Iraqi funds to families of suicide bombers.[8] He was one of 57 Palestinians released in 2006 as a goodwill gesture.[7] The ALF continues to have a seat on the PLO Executive Committee, since 1993 held by Mahmoud Ismael. What the status and position of the ALF is since the 2003 end of Iraqi support is uncertain.

The headquarters of ALF are in Ramallah, West Bank. The ALF published a monthly newspaper, Sawt al-Jamahir (Arabic: Voice of the Masses), which was edited by Rakad Salem. The newspaper was financed by the Iraqi government until 2003, and it is uncertain whether the paper has continued to be published since then.

ALF has not been involved in armed attacks on Israel since at least the early 1990s,[2][9] and it is no longer believed to possess any significant military capabilities. It is not designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States, and is not on the terrorist lists of the UN, the EU or any other country. [citation needed]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "مسيرة جماهيرية حاشدة في مخيم عين الحلوه لمناسبة الذكرى السنوية الثالثه لاستشهاد القائد القومي والوطني ابو العباس - دنيا الوطن". 12 March 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
2. ^ a b c Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism. By Mathieu Guidère. p.32.
3. ^ How Saddam Hussein’s régime transferred funds from Iraq to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to encourage Palestinian terrorism Archived 2007-01-09 at the Wayback Machine Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S), August, 2005
4. ^ Iraq pays suicide bonus to entice new bombers Paul McGeough, The Age, March 26, 2002
5. ^ Arab Gateway: PALESTINE WHO'S WHO Archived 2012-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
6. ^ Arab Gateway: Palestine Who's Who Archived September 25, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ a b "Rakad Salem, one of 57 Palestinian released by Israel from its prisons, welcomed by his supporters - safaimages". safaimages.photoshelter.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
8. ^ "FILE PHOTO General Sect. Of ALF Arrested For Helping Hussein". 8 October 2002. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
9. ^ "GTD Search Results". www.start.umd.edu. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

## External links

[edit]

* ALF official site Archived 2013-03-24 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
* e

Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party

* Iraqi-dominated faction
* Syrian-dominated faction

History

| Predecessors|

* Arab Ba'ath
* Arab Ba'ath Movement
* Arab Socialist Movement
* Syrian Committee to Help Iraq

|

Founders|

* Michel Aflaq
* Salah al-Din al-Bitar

Pre-split|

* 1954 Syrian coup d'état
* 14 July Revolution
* 1959 Mosul uprising
* Attempted assassination of Abdul-Karim Qasim
* Ramadan Revolution
* 1963 Syrian coup d'état
* Ba'athist Syria
* Politics
* National Council for the Revolutionary Command
* Ar-Rashid revolt
* November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état
* 1964 Hama riot
* 1966 Syrian coup d'état

Post-split|

* 17 July Revolution
* Ba'athist Iraq
* Revolutionary Command Council
* Members
* Arab Belt
* Corrective Movement
* Union of Arab Republics
* Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in northern Iraq
* 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge
* Assadist–Saddamist conflict
* Faith Campaign
* Iraqi conflict
* De-Ba'athification in Iraq
* Ba'ath Party archives
* Syrian civil war
* Fall of the Assad regime

Leadership

| General Secretaries|

| Pre-split|

* Michel Aflaq
* Munif Razzaz

|

Iraqi-dominated faction|

* Michel Aflaq
* Saddam Hussein
* Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
* Salah Al-Mukhtar*

Syrian-dominated faction|

* Nureddin al-Atassi
* Hafez al-Assad
* Abdullah al-Ahmar (de facto)
* Bashar al-Assad

Regional Secretaries|

| Iraq|

* Fuad al-Rikabi
* Talib El-Shibib
* Ali Salih al-Sa'di
* Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
* Saddam Hussein
* Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
* Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed*

|

Jordan|

* Abdullah Rimawi
* Munif Razzaz
* Akram al-Homsi*

Lebanon|

* Assem Qanso
* Abd al-Majid al-Rafei

Palestine|

* Isam al-Qadi
* Rakad Salem*

Syria|

* Hammud al-Shufi
* Shibli al-Aysami
* Amin al-Hafiz
* Nureddin al-Atassi
* Hafez al-Assad
* Bashar al-Assad

Members of the National Command|

* Hadiya Khalaf Abbas
* Michel Aflaq
* Abdullah al-Ahmar
* Zaki al-Arsuzi
* Bashar al-Assad
* Hafez al-Assad
* Nureddin al-Atassi
* Mansur al-Atrash
* Shibli al-Aysami
* Ali Abdullah Ayyoub
* Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
* Salah al-Din al-Bitar
* Elias Farah
* Hakem Al-Fayez
* Wahib al-Ghanim
* Amin al-Hafiz
* Akram al-Hourani
* Salah Jadid
* Zuheir Mohsen
* Munif Razzaz
* Fuad al-Rikabi
* Abdullah Rimawi
* Ali Salih al-Sa'di
* Talib El-Shibib
* Khaled Yashruti

Members of the Regional Commands|

| Iraq|

* Humam Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Ghafur
* Ghanim Abdul-Jalil
* Saad Abdul-Majid
* Jamal Mustafa Abdullah
* Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed
* Salah Omar al-Ali
* Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash
* Salih Mahdi Ammash
* Hussein Al-Awadi
* Tariq Aziz
* Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
* Adil Abdullah Mahdi Al-Douri
* Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
* Saadoun Ghaidan
* Fadil Mahmud Gharib
* Mizban Khadr al-Hadi
* Sa'dun Hammadi
* Qusay Hussein
* Saddam Hussein
* Latif Nassif Jassim
* Rashid Taan Kazim
* Adnan Khayr Allah
* Ali Hassan al-Majid
* Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi
* Samir Abdul Aziz al-Najim
* Aziz Saleh Al-Numan
* Ghazi Hamoud Al-Obaidi
* Taha Yassin Ramadan
* Fawzi Mutlaq al-Rawi
* Rashid al-Rifai
* Fuad al-Rikabi
* Ali Salih al-Sa'di
* Abd Al-Baqi Abd Karim Al-Sadun
* Muhammad Zimam al-Sadun
* Abdul Khaliq al-Samarra'i
* Abdullah Sallum al-Samarra'i
* Talib El-Shibib
* Nayef Shindakh Thamer
* Khamis Sirhan
* Hardan al-Tikriti
* Yahya Abdallah al-Ubaydi
* Tahir Yahya
* Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi
* Ibrahim Hesqel

|

Lebanon|

* Musa Shuaib

Syria|

* Hadiya Khalaf Abbas
* Abdullah al-Ahmar
* Hussein Arnous
* Bashar al-Assad
* Hafez al-Assad
* Maher al-Assad
* Rifaat al-Assad
* Nureddin al-Atassi
* Shibli al-Aysami
* Ali Abdullah Ayyoub
* Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan
* Muhsen Bilal
* Mahdi Dakhlallah
* Ahmad Diyab
* Ali Duba
* Fahd Jassem al-Freij
* Marwan Habash
* Ibrahim al-Hadid
* Amin al-Hafiz
* Muhammad Ali al-Halabi
* Wael Nader al-Halqi
* Adnan Badr Hassan
* Salim Hatum
* Hilal Hilal
* Mohammad al-Hussein
* Hisham Ikhtiyar
* Salah Jadid
* Abdul-Karim al-Jundi
* Sami al-Jundi
* Abdul Rauf al-Kasm
* Abdul Halim Khaddam
* Imad Khamis
* Ahmad al-Khatib
* Abdul Rahman Khleifawi
* Mohammad Jihad al-Laham
* Ibrahim Makhous
* Zuhair Masharqa
* Muhammad Mustafa Mero
* Muhammad Naji al-Otari
* Abdul Qadir Qaddura
* Hammouda Sabbagh
* Farouk al-Sharaa
* Hikmat al-Shihabi
* Hammud al-Shufi
* Mustafa Tlass
* Hasan Turkmani
* Muhammad Umran
* Salim Yasin
* Yusuf Zuayyin

Yemen|

Ali Ahmad Nasser al-Dhahab

Heads of state|

| Iraq|

* Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
* Saddam Hussein

|

Syria|

* Amin al-Hafiz
* Nureddin al-Atassi
* Ahmad al-Khatib
* Hafez al-Assad
* Abdul Halim Khaddam (interim)
* Bashar al-Assad

Heads of government|

| Iraq|

* Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
* Saddam Hussein
* Sa'dun Hammadi
* Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi
* Ahmad Husayn Khudayir as-Samarrai

|

Syria|

* Salah al-Din al-Bitar
* Amin al-Hafiz
* Yusuf Zuayyin
* Nureddin al-Atassi
* Hafez al-Assad
* Abdul Rahman Khleifawi
* Mahmoud al-Ayyubi
* Muhammad Ali al-Halabi
* Abdul Rauf al-Kasm
* Mahmoud Al-Zoubi
* Muhammad Mustafa Mero
* Muhammad Naji al-Otari
* Adel Safar
* Riyad Farid Hijab
* Omar Ibrahim Ghalawanji
* Wael Nader al-Halqi
* Imad Khamis
* Hussein Arnous
* Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali

* = incumbent

Organization

| Regional branches|

| Iraqi-dominated faction|

* Algeria
* Bahrain
* Egypt
* Iraq
* Regional Command
* Jordan
* Lebanon
* Libya
* Mauritania
* Palestine
* Sudan
* Tunisia
* Yemen

|

Syrian-dominated faction|

* Jordan
* Lebanon
* Mauritania
* Palestine
* South Yemen
* Sudan
* Syria
* Central Command
* History
* National Security Bureau
* Yemen

Newspapers|

* Al-Ba'ath
* Sawt al-Jamahir
* Al-Thawra

Popular fronts|

* National Progressive Front (Iraq)
* National Progressive Front (Syria)

Wings|

| Paramilitary|

* Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order
* Ba'ath Brigades
* Fedayeen Saddam
* General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries
* Jeish Muhammad
* National Defense Battalions
* Popular Army
* Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation

|

Others|

* General Federation of Trade Unions
* General Union of Peasants
* Revolutionary Youth Union

Associated organizations

| Armed groups|

* Al-Abud Network
* Free Iraqi Army
* Rejectionists
* Snake Party

|

Breakaway groups|

* Arab Revolutionary Workers Party
* Arab Socialist Movement
* Damascus branch
* Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party
* Arabic Toilers' Movement
* Al-Awda
* Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party
* Palestinian Arab Front
* Socialist Lebanon
* Sudanese Ba'ath Party

Political alliances|

| Current|

* Alliance of Palestinian Forces
* Forces of Freedom and Change
* March 8 Alliance
* National Consensus Forces
* National Democratic Alliance
* Palestine Liberation Organization
* Palestinian National and Islamic Forces

|

Former|

* Ahd Bloc
* Front of Patriotic and National Parties
* Lebanese National Movement
* Lebanese National Resistance Front
* National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria
* National Union Front
* Palestinian National Alliance
* Palestinian National Salvation Front
* Rejectionist Front

Political parties|

* Arab Socialist Union Party
* Arab Democratic Union Party
* Democratic Socialist Unionist Party
* Kurdistan Revolutionary Party
* Libyan National Movement
* National Covenant Party
* Popular Unity Party
* Sawab
* Social Democratic Unionists
* Socialist Unionist Party
* Syrian Communist Party
* Bakdash
* Unified
* Syrian Social Nationalist Party
* in Lebanon

Miscellaneous

| Ideology|

* Anti-imperialism
* Anti-Zionism
* Arab nationalism
* Arab socialism
* Assadism
* Ba'athism
* Neo-Ba'athism
* Pan-Arabism
* Progressivism
* Republicanism
* Revolutionary socialism
* Romantic nationalism
* Saddamism
* Secularism
* Socialism
* Vanguardism

|

Literature|

* The Battle for One Destiny
* On the Way of Resurrection

Symbolism|

* Ardulfurataini
* Pan-Arab colors
* Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya

* v
* t
* e

Political parties in Palestine

Palestinian
Legislative
Council|

* Hamas (74)
* Fatah (45)
* Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) (3)
* Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) (2)
* Third Way (2)
* Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) (1)
* Palestinian People's Party (PPP) (1)

Other|

* Arab Liberation Front (ALF)
* As-Sa'iqa
* Palestinian Liberation Front (Abu Abbas) (PLF)
* Palestinian Liberation Front (Abu Nidal Ashqar) (PLF)
* Palestinian Arab Front (PAF)
* Palestinian Communist Party (PCP)
* Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA)
* Palestinian Freedom Movement
* Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (Samir Ghawshah) (PPSF)
* Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (Khalid ‘Abd al-Majid) (PPSF)
* Palestinian Justice (PJP)
* National Coalition for Justice and Democracy (Wa'ad)
* Reform and Development Party (RDPP)
* Revolutionary Palestinian Communist Party (RPCP)

* Politics of the Palestinian National Authority
* Lists of political parties
* Politics portal

* v
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Political parties in Iraq

Major political parties|

* Sadrists (73) (quit)
* Progress Party (37)
* State of Law Coalition (33)
* Islamic Dawa Party
* Islamic Dawa Party – Iraq Organisation
* Kurdistan Democratic Party (31)
* Fatah Alliance (17)
* Badr Organization
* Al-Sadiqoun Bloc
* Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
* Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (17)
* Azem Alliance (14)

Minor political parties|

* Emtidad Movement (9)
* New Generation Movement (9)
* Ishraqat Kanoon (6)
* Tasmim Alliance (5)
* Victory Alliance (4)
* Kurdistan Justice Group (2)
* Iraqi Turkmen Front (1)

Reserved Christian seats (5)|

* Babylon Movement (4)
* Independents (1)

Reserved minority seats (3)|

* Hareth Shanshal Sunaid (1) [Mandaean seat]
* Naif Khalaf Seydou (1) [Yazidi seat]
* Council of Free Shabaks (1) [Shabak seat]

Unrepresented in parliament|

* The Iraqis
* Iraqi Communist Party
* Iraqi National Congress
* Nasserist Socialist Vanguard Party
* National Wisdom Movement

Banned|

* Hizb ut-Tahrir
* Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
* in Iraq
* pan-Arab organization
* al-Awda
* Arab Liberation Front

Politics of Iraq

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Israel

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