Issue No. 600
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22 - 28 August 2002 Issue No. 600 Region |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Abu Nidal dies -- unmourned
THE LIFE of the notorious Palestinian guerrilla commander Sabri Al-Banna, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Nidal, came to an abrupt end in Baghdad earlier this week, writes Khaled Amayreh.
As of Al-Ahram Weekly's press time, the exact circumstances of his death remained unclear. Some Palestinian sources suggested that Abu Nidal took his own life because he was suffering from cancer and an addiction to painkillers.
However, on Tuesday, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz told reporters in Baghdad that Nidal committed suicide after Iraqi security agents confronted him with evidence regarding his collusion with Iraqi opposition figures based in Damascus.
Iraqi sources said that Abu Nidal entered Iraq covertly from Iran sometime last year and that he was using false identification papers. Authorities soon discovered his true identity and placed him under house arrest.
According to sources, he was caught contacting "external parties" who were known to have conspired against Iraq. To those who are familiar with Iraq, this information suggests that Abu Nidal was most likely executed by his Iraqi hosts. Since his death, which was first reported on 17 August, there has been a plethora of speculation surrounding the circumstances of his death.
Some reports quoted an aide of Abu Nidal, who has fled to Amman, as saying that the 65-year-old man was killed not by the Iraqis, but by a disgruntled aide who accused him of embezzling four million dollars.
Abu Nidal was born in Jaffa, Palestine, in 1939, and in 1948, he became a refugee, like the majority of the Palestinian Arab population.
In the late 1950s, he joined the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, and in 1969 he joined the Fatah movement, founded and led by Yasser Arafat. In the early 1970s Arafat appointed Abu Nidal as the PLO representative in Khartoum, Sudan. Four years later, he was re-appointed as PLO representative in Baghdad.
In Iraq, Abu Nidal, with active assistance from Iraqi intelligence agencies, built a following of his own. In 1974 Abu Nidal parted ways with Arafat's Fatah movement and created a new organisation which he called Fatah, the Revolutionary Council (FRC).
Abu Nidal became a sworn enemy of PLO leader Yasser Arafat. According to Palestinian sources, Abu Nidal and his group tried at least twice to assassinate Arafat -- prompting a 1974 PLO court in Lebanon to sentence him to death.
Abu Nidal came to view the leaders of Fatah, particularly Arafat and those loyal to him, as traitors to the cause of Palestinian liberation. Hence, his group began a campaign of assassination and bombing aimed at moderate Fatah leaders and Arafat loyalists.
From 1978 to 1991 the FRC assassinated six PLO representatives, and made numerous failed attempts. In addition to PLO/Fatah, Nidal targeted Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Saudi and UAE diplomats in Europe. In 18 February, 1978 the FRC assassinated Youssef El-Sebaie, prominent Egyptian writer and journalist and president of the Organisation for the Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and North America .
On 23 November, 1985 the group hijacked an Egyptian plane to Malta, killing 66 people and injuring many others. Moreover, several Jordanian diplomats were killed by the FRC between the years 1978 and 1990.
It was not surprising, therefore, that news of Nidal's death was met with a modicum of indifference by most Palestinians and many in the Arab world. The PA was circumspect in its reaction to the death of Abu Nidal. Fatah official Abbas Zaki, who knew Abu Nidal personally, said the notorious guerrilla commander "defamed and besmirched our struggle" and "aimed his guns at our people and leaders rather than at the enemy". Zaki's comments seem to echo the sentiment held by many Palestinians -- the FRC did more harm than good.
With Abu Nidal's death, it is likely that the FRC will vanish into oblivion.
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