Dawson's Field hijackings
In September 1970, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four airliners bound for New York City and one for London. Three aircraft were forced to land at Dawson's Field, a remote desert airstrip near Zarqa, Jordan, formerly Royal Air Force Station Zarqa, which then became PFLP's "Revolutionary Airport". By the end of the incident, one hijacker had been killed and one injury reported. This was the second instance of mass aircraft hijacking, after an escape from communist Czechoslovakia in 1950.
Three airliners were destroyed by explosion at Dawson's Field on 12 September 1970.
4X-ATB, the aircraft involved, in July 1970
A TWA Boeing 707 similar to the hijacked aircraft
HB-IDD, the DC-8 involved, at Zurich Airport in 1965.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization, the largest being Fatah.
George Habash, a Palestinian Christian, was PFLP's Secretary General at its beginning. He had been influenced by the ideas of Constantin Zureiq and Sati' al-Husri, Arab nationalists of the 1940s and 1950s
A PFLP patrol in Jordan, 1969
PFLP May Day poster
PFLP graffiti in Bethlehem
