Leila Khaled

Leila Khaled (Arabic: ليلى خالد‎, Arabic pronunciation: [ˈlajla ˈxaːled] is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and an airline hijacker who was later released in a prisoner exchange for civilian hostages kidnapped by her fellow PFLP members. The PFLP is described as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and the European Union.

Khaled came to public attention for her role in a 1969 hijacking and one of four simultaneous hijackings the following year as part of Black September.

Early life

Khaled was born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine to Lebanese parents. Khaled's family was forced to flee to Lebanon, as part of the 1948 Palestinian exodus, on 13 April 1948, leaving her father behind. At the age of 15, following in the footsteps of her brother, she joined the pan-ArabArab 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.