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In the 1950s and '60s, most of the world didn't know what the "Palestinian Question" was about. The whole issue - of an oppressive occupation which forced an entire people out of their land - was reduced then to "a refugee problem". The Great Powers refused to acknowledge the geopolitical nature of the Palestinian struggle. Then came a generation of Palestinian leaders who put "the cause" back on the map, forcing people to notice. One of those historic leaders was George Habash, who died on Saturday.
He founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1968, a movement famous in the West for hijacking commercial flights to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinians. It even blew up few planes after evacuating the passengers. Habash wanted to make a point.
"For decades, world public opinion has been neither for nor against the Palestinians. It simply ignored us. At least the world is talking about us now," he told the German magazine Stern in 1970.
Ironically, Habash departed with the Palestinians sharply divided, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) almost irrelevant and Gaza under siege. His leadership is truly being missed. His death should remind the PLO, the mother organisation he helped found, of the need to unite the feuding factions. More than ever Palestinians need to speak with one voice - like that of Habash.
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