There have been many incidents of aircraft hijacking in the world. Among all this, there was also a name of Laila Khalid, who stunned everyone by hijacking the Israeli plane. Laila Khalid had to leave his home and country in his childhood, after which he dreamed of freeing Palestine. To accomplish this task, Laila held up the gun and then shook the world with her exploits.
Laila Khalid was born on 9 April 1944 in Palestine. In the year 1948, the situation became such that Laila was forced to leave the country with her family and then settled in Lebanon. She left the country at the age of about 5 and then by the age of 15 she joined the Arab Nationalist Movement. Laila then joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) at the age of 23 for the independence of Palestine.
Laila’s life had changed from here and now she had to prepare for a mission. Laila Khalid, along with some people, hijacked many planes between 1967 and 69, but when she hijacked TWA Flight 840, there was a worldwide outcry. The plane was scheduled to fly from Rome to Athens and then to Tel Aviv on 29 August 1969. In this work, Laila was accompanied by her partner Salim Issavi.
Laila Khalid managed to take a pistol and two hand grenades into the plane by bluffing the security. The aircraft had about 120 passengers and 7 crew members. He had information that there was an Israeli ambassador on the plane, but luck turned and the ambassador did not board the plane. However, Laila and Salim hijacked the plane shortly after the plane took off. The plane was then asked to change its route to Damascus in Syria. Arriving in Damascus, the ship was evacuated and blew up with a bomb. The passengers were then released in exchange for 71 soldiers from Syria and Egypt.
During this, Laila Khalid changed her face through plastic surgery about 6 times so that she could carry out the second mission. But in 1970, a hijacking overshadowed him, in which he tried to hijack an Israeli ship going from Amsterdam to New York. This plan was foiled by some of the sky marshals present in the plane and Laila’s two companions were killed. While Laila was arrested with live bombs and handed over to Britain and sent to jail.
However, on 1 October 1970, another plane hijacking forced Britain to leave Laila. After being released, Laila Khalid left the gun and joined politics and then was seen raising voice for Palestine around the world. During this time Laila Khalid himself wrote his autobiography and many books were written and documentaries were also made on Khalid. In a way, she had become the poster girl for Palestine.