11 Facts About Wadie Haddad

Wadie Haddad, known by the kunya Abu Hani, was a Palestinian militant and leading figure of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Wadie Haddad received a degree in medicine from the American University of Beirut, where he met fellow Palestinian refugee George Habash, who was a medical student.

Wadie Haddad worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in 1956 but was arrested by Jordanian authorities in the following year due to his nationalist activities.

From 1963 onwards, Wadie Haddad became a proponent of the armed struggle against Israel and succeeded in militarizing the ANM.

Wadie Haddad became the leader of its military wing, involved in organizing attacks on Israeli targets.

Wadie Haddad argued for and organized hijackings, including the first PFLP aircraft hijacking in 1968, when an Israeli El Al plane was hijacked.

Wadie Haddad employed the services of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as "Carlos the Jackal", whom he had met in 1970 and trained in guerrilla warfare techniques but expelled Sanchez from his team after Sanchez had been accused of refusing to kill two hostages, and possibly stealing ransom money, following the 1975 assault on the OPEC conference in Vienna.

Wadie Haddad died on 28 March 1978 in East Germany, reportedly from leukemia.

Wadie Haddad became ill and was admitted to an Iraqi government hospital, where the doctors could not figure out what his condition was and suspected he had been poisoned.

Wadie Haddad was extensively tested and the physicians suspected he had been poisoned with either rat poison or thallium, but found no direct evidence.

Wadie Haddad remained a highly valued agent till his death in 1978.