Leila Khaled | |
|---|---|
| ليلى خالد | |
.jpg) Khaled at the Beirut International Forum for Resistance, Anti-Imperialism, Solidarity between Peoples, and Alternatives, 2009 | |
| Born | (1944-04-09)April 9, 1944 (age 81) |
| Organization | Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine |
| Known for | Pro-Palestinian militancy |
| Movement | Arab Nationalist Movement |
Leila Khaled (Arabic:ليلى خالد[ˈlajlaˈxaːled]; born April 9, 1944) is a Palestinian activist and former militant who is a member of thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). She is famous for her role in two plane-hijackings, and was the second woman to be involved in such an operation.[a]
Khaled gained her prominence for her role in theTWA Flight 840 hijacking in 1969 and one of the four simultaneousDawson's Field hijackings the following year as part of the campaign ofBlack September in Jordan.[2] After being imprisoned, she was released in a prisoner exchange for civilian hostages kidnapped by other PFLP members.[3]
Khaled was born on April 9, 1944, inHaifa,Mandatory Palestine, toArab parents.[4] Her family fled toLebanon on April 13, 1948, as part of the1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight,[4] leaving her father behind. At the age of 15, following in the footsteps of her brother, she joined the pan-Arab[5]Arab Nationalist Movement, originally established in the late 1940s byGeorge Habash, then a medical student at theAmerican University of Beirut.[6] The Palestinian branch of this movement became thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine after the 1967Six-Day War. Khaled spent some time teaching inKuwait.[7]
On August 29, 1969, Khaled was part of a team that hijackedTWA Flight 840 on its way fromRome toTel Aviv, diverting theBoeing 707 toDamascus. According to some media sources,[3] the PFLP leadership thought thatYitzhak Rabin, then Israeli ambassador to the United States, would be on board; he was not. She claims she ordered the pilot to fly over Haifa, so she could see her birthplace.[8] No one was injured, but after the passengers disembarked, the hijackers blew up the nose section of the aircraft. After this hijacking, and a photograph of her (taken byEddie Adams) holding anAK-47 rifle and wearing akaffiyeh was reproduced in many publications, she underwent six plastic surgery operations on her nose and chin to conceal her identity and allow her to take part in a future hijacking, and because she did not want to wear the face of an icon.[8][9]
On September 6, 1970, Khaled andPatrick Argüello, aNicaraguan–American, attempted to hijackEl Al Flight 219 fromAmsterdam to New York City as part of theDawson's Field hijackings, a series of almost simultaneous hijackings carried out by the PFLP. Khaled and Argüello threatened to detonate grenades if they were not granted access to the cockpit. The pilots refused to comply, and instead put the plane into a nosedive. Though sources differ on the chronology of these events, in the resulting scuffle someone hit Argüello in the head with a bottle of whiskey; Argüello shot and injured a crew member and reportedly threw a grenade which did not explode towards the passengers; and sky marshals shot Argüello multiple times, mortally wounding him. The pilot diverted the aircraft to Heathrow Airport in London. An ambulance took the injured crew member and Argüello to the hospital. The crewmember survived while Argüello died in the ambulance. Khaled was arrested though later released during a hostage exchange.[10][8][11]
.JPG)
Khaled has stated in interviews that she developed a fondness for the United Kingdom 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 the UK for speaking engagements until as late as 2002, although she was refused a visa by the British embassy in 2005 to address a meeting at theFéile an Phobail inBelfast, where she was invited as a speaker. Eventually she managed to speak to people at the Belfast Féile through a video link.[12]
According to Khaled, there is not an Arab-Israelipeace process. She stated "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."[6] Khaled also supports the Kurdish political movement surrounding thePeoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and drew attention to the similar fate of the Palestinian and theKurdish people.[13][14] She has become involved in politics, becoming a member of thePalestinian National Council and appearing regularly at theWorld Social Forum.[15][16][17][18]
Khaled was married to physicianFayez Rashid (1950–2023) and lived with their two sons Bader and Bashar inAmman,Jordan.[19] She is irreligious.[4] She was the subject of a film entitledLeila Khaled, Hijacker,[20][21] directed by Palestinian filmmaker Lina Makboul.[22][23] It premiered in November 2005 at theInternational Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.[24][25]
In November 2017, Khaled was refused entry toRome, Italy at theLeonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, and was forced to return to Amman as she is a member of a group considered a terrorist organization by the Italian government.[26] In mid-September 2020, Khaled was scheduled to speak at a virtualZoom conference atSan Francisco State University hosted byRabab Abdulhadi and Tomomi Kinukawa. Following lobbying by the Jewish coalition group "End Jewish Hatred",Zoom Video Communications along with YouTube and Facebook, prevented the conference from using their video conferencing software and platforms, citing compliance with U.S. export control, sanctions, and anti-terrorism laws.[27][28][29]
Khaled was the subject of an artwork portrait made entirely out of lipsticks, "The Icon", created by artist Amer Shomali using 14 colors, and 3,500 lipsticks. The song "Like Leila Khaled Said" fromThe Teardrop Explodes' 1981 albumWilder is a love song to Khaled. SongwriterJulian Cope said it was a love song to her "cos I thought she was so beautiful. But I know that the whole thing was like bad news."[30] As of 2018, she is commemorated in a mural at the International Wall on theFalls Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The mural is based upon the photograph of her by Eddie Adams, holding anAK-47 and with the Palestine flag behind her. Her image along with an image of Irish Republican, Oglach Charlie Hughes says "Our Struggle continues". The Johannesburg City Council passed a motion in November 2018 to change the name of Sandton Drive inJohannesburg toLeila Khaled Drive.[31] The American consulate in Johannesburg is located on the street.[32][33]
WriterChris Boucher has said that he named the character of savage warriorLeela fromDoctor Who after Khaled.[34] The 10th song of the albumFriværdi, released on September 26, 2005, by the Danish rock bandMagtens Korridorer, is entitled "Leila Khaled".[35]Leila Khaled: Hijacker is a 2006 documentary about Leila Khaled by Swedish-Palestinian filmmaker Lina Makboul.[36] The albumOlive no Ki no Shita de, released in 2007 by the Japanese rock singer Panta, features a song entitled "Leila's Ballade". This song's lyrics were written by formerJapanese Red Army memberFusako Shigenobu and her daughterMei Shigenobu.[37] Khaled is mentioned byFun-da-mental in "Mother India", on theLove India CD (2010) widely distributed in the United States byStarbucks.[38] In 2012, Khaled was invited to a ceremony for the 40th anniversary of theLod Airport massacre by a Japanese far-left group inKyoto,[39] at which Panta performed the song in front of Khaled.[40]
leila khaled fun -da-mental.
| History | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People |
| ||||||||
| Attacks |
| ||||||||
| Breakaway organizations | |||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
