Abu Nidal in 1976 in a photograph released by the Israeli Defense Forces, one of only a handful of photographs of him known to exist.

Abu Nidal (Arabic: أبو نضال) May 1937^[1]–August 16, 2002), born Sabri Khalil al-Banna,^[2] (Arabic: صبري خليل البنا) was a Palestinian political leader, mercenary, and the founder of Fatah — the Revolutionary Council (Fatah al-Majles al-Thawry), more commonly known as the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO).^[3] At the height of his power in the 1970s and 1980s, Abu Nidal, or "father of the struggle," ^[4] was widely regarded as the world's most dangerous terrorist leader.^[5] This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces... Arabic redirects here. ... is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ...

Part of the secular, left-wing, Palestinian rejectionist front, so-called because they reject proposals for a peaceful settlement with Israel, the ANO was formed after a split in 1974 between Abu Nidal and Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Setting himself up as a freelance contractor, Abu Nidal is believed to have ordered attacks in 20 countries, killing or injuring over 900 people.^[6] The group's most notorious attacks were on the El Al ticket counters at Rome and Vienna airports in December 1985, when Arab gunmen doped on amphetamines opened fire on passengers in simultaneous shootings, killing 18 and wounding 120. Patrick Seale, Abu Nidal's biographer, wrote of the attacks that their "random cruelty marked them as typical Abu Nidal operations."^[7] The Rejectionist Front, official name Front of the Palestinian Forces Rejecting Solutions of Surrender, was a political coalition formed in 1974 by hardline Palestinian factions. ... Not to be confused with Yasir Arafat (cricketer). ... Fatah (Arabic: ); a reverse acronym from the Arabic name Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini (literally: Palestinian National Liberation Movement) is a major secular Palestinian political party and the largest organization in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a generally secular multi-party confederation. ... The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Arabic: ;   or Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah) is a multi-party confederation and is the organization regarded since 1974 as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Companies of Israel | Transportation in Israel | Airlines of Israel ... The Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks were two major terrorist attacks carried out on December 27, 1985. ... Amphetamine or Amfetamine(Alpha-Methyl-PHenEThylAMINE), also known as beta-phenyl-isopropylamine and benzedrine, is a prescription stimulant commonly used to treat Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults and children. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ...

Abu Nidal died of between one and four gunshot wounds in Baghdad in August 2002, believed by Palestinian sources to have been killed on the orders of Saddam Hussein,^[8] but said by the Iraqi government to have committed suicide.^[9] The Guardian wrote on the news of his death: "He was the patriot turned psychopath. He served only ... the warped personal drives that pushed him into hideous crime. He was the ultimate mercenary."^[10] Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ... Defence of the fatherland is a commonplace of patriotism: The statue in the courtyard of École polytechnique, Paris, commemorating the students involvement in defending France against the 1814 invasion of the Coalition. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ...

Early life

Abu Nidal was born in the port of Jaffa, where he was raised in a large stone house near the beach. The building is now an Israeli military courthouse.

Abu Nidal was born in May 1937 in the port of Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean coast of what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. His father, Hajj Khalil al-Banna, was a wealthy merchant who made his money from the 6,000 acres (24 km²) of orange groves he owned, which extended from the south of Jaffa to Majdal, today Ashkelon in Israel. He raised his large family in luxury in a three-storey stone house with a large porch overlooking the beach, now used as an Israeli military court. ^[11] This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... Jaffa (Hebrew יָפוֹ, Standard Hebrew Yafo, Tiberian Hebrew Yāp̄ô; Arabic يَافَا Yāfā; also Japho, Joppa), is an ancient city located in Israel. ... Jaffa (Hebrew יָפוֹ, Standard Hebrew Yafo, Tiberian Hebrew Yāp̄ô; Arabic يَافَا Yāfā; also Japho, Joppa), is an ancient city located in Israel. ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... Flag The approximate borders of the British Mandate circa 1922. ... Hebrew אַשְׁקְלוֹן (Standard) AÅ¡qÉ™lon Arabic عسقلان Founded in 1951 Government City Also Spelled Ashqelon (officially) District South Population 105,100 (2004) Jurisdiction 55,000 dunams (55 km²) Mayor Roni Mahatzri Ashkelon (Hebrew: ‎; Tiberian Hebrew ʾAÅ¡qÉ™lôn; Arabic: ‎  ; Latin: Ascalon) is a city in the western Negev, in the...

According to Abu Nidal's brother, Muhammad Khalil al-Banna, their father was the richest man in Palestine. He told journalist Yossi Melman: Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ...

[My father] marketed about ten percent of all the citrus crops sent from Palestine to Europe — especially to England and Germany. He owned a summer house in Marseilles, France, and another house in İskenderun, then in Syria and afterwards Turkey, and a number of houses in Palestine itself. Most of the time we lived in Jaffa. Our house had about twenty rooms, and we children would go down to swim in the sea. We also had stables with Arabian horses, and one of our homes in Ashkelon even had a large swimming pool. I think we must have been the only family in Palestine with a private swimming pool. ^[12] // Ä°skenderun, also Iskenderon (formerly known in the west as Alexandretta, from Greek Ἀλεξανδρέττα; in Arabic الإسكندرون, al-ʼIskandarÅ«n), is a district and its center in the Turkish province of Hatay. ... The Arabian horse is a breed of horse with a reputation for intelligence, high spirit, and outstanding stamina. ...

Al-Banna told Melman that the family also owned orchards in Majdal, Yavneh, Abu Kabir, and near the village of Tirah. The Ramat Hakovesh kibbutz contains a tract of land to this day called "the al-Banna orchard," he said. "Of course this used to belong to us. My brothers and I still preserve the documents showing our ownership of the property, even though we know full well that we and our children have no chance of getting it back. ^[12] Yavne (Hebrew יבנה, Arabic يبنة Yibnah) is a city in the Center District of Israel in Israel. ... Kibbutz Dan, near Qiryat Shemona, in the Upper Galilee, 1990s A kibbutz (Hebrew: ; plural: kibbutzim: קיבוצים; gathering or together) is an Israeli collective intentional community. ...

Khalil's money meant he could afford to take several wives. According to Abu Nidal in a rare interview with Der Spiegel in 1985, his father had 13 wives, who gave birth to 16 sons and eight daughters. ^[13] Abu Nidal's mother was the second wife, according to Abu Nidal's British biographer Patrick Seale, and the eighth, according to Melman. ^[11] She had been one of the family's maids, a young Alawite girl just 16 years old when Khalil married her against the wishes of his family. She gave birth to Sabri, Khalil's 12th child. Because the family disapproved of the marriage, Abu Nidal was allegedly scorned from an early age by his older half-brothers and half-sisters. Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... For the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco see:Alaouite Dynasty, for the former state now in Yemen see: Alawi (sheikhdom) The Alawi, also known as Alawites, Nusayris or Ansaris, are a Middle Eastern sect of Shia Islam[1][2] prominent in Syria The terms Alawī and Alevi, although they share...

Khalil sent him to Collège des Frères, a French Roman Catholic mission school in the Old Jaffa quarter, the records of which show he completed the first grade, according to the school keeper, although the school administration refuses to allow journalists to view them. ^[12] However, when Khalil died in 1945, when Abu Nidal was seven years old, the family turned his mother out of the house. The older brothers, more devout Muslims than the father had been, took Abu Nidal out of the mission school and enrolled him in a Muslim school in Jerusalem, now known as al-Umaria, at the time one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. He attended the school for about two years. ^[14] The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ...

Seale suggests that Abu Nidal's unhappy childhood, and the early loss of both his father and mother, explains his difficult personality, described by journalists as psychopathic and paranoid, and as "chaotic" by Abu Iyad, the late deputy chief of Fatah. Issam Sartawi, the late Palestinian heart surgeon, called him a psychopath ^[15] whose mental world was one of plots and counterplots, ^[16] which was later reflected in his tyrannical leadership of the ANO, trusting no one, and at one point suspecting even his own wife of working for the CIA. ^[17] See Also: Antisocial Personality Disorder Theoretically, psychopathy is a three-faceted disorder involving interpersonal, affective and behavioral characteristics. ... For other senses of this word, see paranoia (disambiguation). ... Abu Iyad(Arabic أبو إياد) (? - January 14, 1991)(born Salah Khalaf ( Arabic صلاح خلف)) was Palestine Liberation Organization deputy chief and intelligence chief, and at the time of his death was considered the second most senior official of Fatah after... Dr Issam Sartawi (1935–1983) was a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO). ... “CIA” redirects here. ...

War

When the Arabs rejected the November 29, 1947 United Nations partition plan — which aimed to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish, one Arab — war broke out between the Palestinian-Arab and Jewish militias, and Jaffa found itself under siege. Life became unbearable, according to Melman, and the disruption of the citrus fruit business hit the family's income. Booby-trapped cars were exploding in the center of Jaffa and there were food shortages. The al-Banna family had had good relations with the Jewish community. Abu Nidal's brother told Melman: "My father was a close friend of Avraham Shapira, one of the founders of Hashomer, the Jewish self-defense organization. He would visit [Shapira] in his home in Petah Tikva, or Shapira riding his horse would visit our home in Jaffa. I also remember how we visited Dr. Weizmann [who became the first president of Israel] in his home in Rehovot." ^[14] It was war, however, and the relationships didn't help them. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Chaim Azriel Weizmann (Hebrew: חיים עזריאל ויצמן) November 27, 1874 – November 9, 1952) was a chemist, statesman, President of the World Zionist Organization, first President of Israel (elected February 1, 1949, served 1949 - 1952) and founder of a research institute in Israel that eventually became the Weizmann Institute of Science. ... The President of the State of Israel (‎, Nesi HaMedina, lit. ... is the 333rd day of the year (334th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Map showing the UN Partition Plan. ... Hashomer - (Hebrew) (The Guard) - Jewish defense organization in Palestine organized 1909, ceased to operate after founding of the Haganah in 1920. ... The Coat of Arms of Petah-Tikva Petah-Tikva (Hebrew פֶּתַח-תִּקְוָה opening of hope, Standard Hebrew Pétaḥ-Tiqva, also transliterated as Petach Tikva, Petah Tikvah, Petach Tikvah, Petaḥ Tiqwa or Petach Tiqwa) and nicknamed as Mother of Cities, is a city in the west of the Center District of Israel... Chaim Azriel Weizmann (Hebrew: חיים עזריאל ויצמן) November 27, 1874 – November 9, 1952) was a chemist, statesman, President of the World Zionist Organization, first President of Israel (elected February 1, 1949, served 1949 - 1952) and founder of a research institute in Israel that eventually became the Weizmann Institute of Science. ... Rehovot (Hebrew רְחוֹבוֹת ) is a city in the Center District of Israel, about 20 km south of Tel Aviv. ...

The family fled Jaffa and moved into their house near Majdal, intending to be away from Jaffa for only a few days, but the Jewish militias arrived in Majdal too, and they had to flee again. This time they ended up in the al-Burj refugee camp in Gaza, then under the control of Egypt. There the family spent nine months living in tents, dependent on UNRWA for their weekly allowance of oil, rice, and potatoes. The experience had a powerful effect on Abu Nidal, who was used to wealth and servants, but who now found himself living in abject poverty. ^[18] Not to be confused with the Spanish name Garza or the Egyptian town of Giza. ... The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees. ...

The family's skill in commerce, and the small amount of money they had managed to take with them, meant they were able to set themselves up in business again as merchants, although the orange groves had gone, now part of the new State of Israel, which had declared its independence on May 14, 1948. They decided to move to Nablus in the West Bank, then ruled by Jordan, where Abu Nidal spent his teenage years. He completed elementary school and graduated from high school in 1955. Melman writes that he loved reading, particularly adventure stories, and was regarded as studious, although not particularly bright. ^[19] Seale writes that his education was elementary and his childish handwriting a source of great embarrassment to him throughout his life. He applied to study engineering at Cairo University, but returned to Nablus after two years without a degree, although he would later describe himself as having one, part of his constant embellishment of his past, according to Melman. ^[19] May 14 is the 134th day of the year (135th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Map of the West Bank, with Nablus in the center north. ...

He joined the Arab nationalist Ba'ath party when he was 18, but King Hussein of Jordan closed the party down in 1957. Abu Nidal made his way to Saudi Arabia, where in 1960 he set himself up as a painter and electrician in Riyadh, according to Seale, or Jedda, according to Melman, and later went on to work as a casual laborer for Aramco. ^[20] Bath Party flag The Arab Socialist Bath Party (also spelled Baath or Baath; Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي) was founded in 1945 as a radical, left-wing, secular Arab nationalist political party. ... Hussein bin Talal (Arabic: حسين بن طلال) (November 14, 1935 - February 7, 1999) was the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from 1952 to 1999. ... Riyadh (Arabic: ar-Riyāḍ) is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. ... Jedda (1955) was the last movie made by Charles Chauvel, and the first to star two Aboriginal actors, (Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth), in the leading roles. ... Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia, is the largest oil corporation in the world and the worlds largest in terms of proven crude oil reserves and production. ...

Abu Nidal remained very close to his mother and returned to Nablus from Saudi Arabia every year to visit her. During one of those visits in 1962, he met his future wife, Hiyam al-Bitar, whose family had also fled from Jaffa. They had a son, Nidal, and two daughters, Bisan and Na'ifa. Decades later, in the 1980s, he boasted that his daughter Bisan had no idea he was Abu Nidal. ^[15]

Political life

In Saudi Arabia, he helped found a small group of young Palestinians who called themselves the Palestine Secret Organization. His political activism and vocal denunciation of Israel drew the attention of his employer, Aramco, which fired him, and then the Saudi government, which imprisoned, tortured, and expelled him as an unwelcome radical. ^[20] He returned to Nablus with his wife and young family, and it was around this time that he joined Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO, although the exact timing and circumstances are unknown. ^[21] He worked as an odd-job man until June 1967, committed to Palestinian politics but not particularly active, until Israel won the 1967 Six Day War, capturing the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The sight of Israeli tanks rolling into Nablus, after he had already been forced to flee from Jaffa because of the war, and from Saudi Arabia because of his activism, was a traumatic and pivotal experience for him, according to Melman, and his passive involvement in Palestinian politics was transformed into a deadly hatred of Israel. Not to be confused with Yasir Arafat (cricketer). ... Fatah (Arabic: ); a reverse acronym from the Arabic name Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini (literally: Palestinian National Liberation Movement) is a major secular Palestinian political party and the largest organization in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a generally secular multi-party confederation. ... The 1967 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Six-Day War or June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. ... The Golan Heights (‎ Ramat HaGolan, Arabic: Habat al-ūlān) or Golan is a mountainous area in northeastern Israel[1] on the border of Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. ...

When King Hussein expelled the PLO during Black September, Abu Nidal was in Iraq, leading to suspicion that he was interested only in saving his own skin.

He moved to Amman, Jordan, setting up a trading company called Impex, and joining the Fatah underground, where he was asked to choose a nom de guerre. He chose Abu Nidal, in part after his son, Nidal — it's a custom in the Arab world for men to call themselves "father of" (Abu), followed by their first son's name — but also because the name means "father of the struggle." ^[4] He was described by those who knew him at the time as a tidy, well-organized leader, not a guerrilla; during skirmishes in Jordan between the fedayeen and King Hussein's troops, he stayed indoors, according to Seale, never leaving his office. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1378x1880, 943 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Black September (group) Hussein of Jordan Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan Portal:Jordan... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1378x1880, 943 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Black September (group) Hussein of Jordan Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan Portal:Jordan... Hussein I bin Talal, King of Jordan (Arabic: ‎ ; November 14, 1935 – February 7, 1999). ... Combatants PLO Jordan Commanders Yasser Arafat King Hussein Casualties 7,000-8,000 killed[1] This article, Black September in Jordan, describes the events surrounding September, 1970 in Jordan. ... For other meanings, see Amman (disambiguation) and Ammann. ... A pseudonym or allonym is a name (sometimes legally adopted, sometimes purely fictitious) used by an individual as an alternative to their birth name. ... Fedayeen (from the Arabic fidāī, plural fidāīyun, فدائيون: one who is ready to sacrifice his life, Armenian: ) describes several distinct, primarily Arab groups at different times in history. ...

Impex soon became a front for Fatah activities, serving as a meeting place for members and as a conduit for funds with which to pay them. This was to become a hallmark of Abu Nidal's business career. Companies controlled by the ANO served to make him a rich man by engaging in legitimate business deals, while acting as cover for his political violence and his multi-million-dollar arms deals, mercenary activities, and protection rackets.

Seeing his talent for organization, Abu Iyad appointed him in 1968 as the Fatah representative in Khartoum, Sudan, then to the same position in Baghdad in July 1970, just two months before Black September, when King Hussein's army drove the fedayeen out of Jordan, with the loss of between 5,000 and 10,000 Palestinian lives in just ten days. Abu Nidal's absence from Jordan during this period, where it was clear that King Hussein was about to act against the Palestinians, raised the suspicion within the movement that he intended only to save his own skin. Nickname: Khartoums location in Sudan Coordinates: , Government  - Governor Abdul Halim al Mutafi Population (2005)  - Urban Over 1 Million For other uses, see Khartoum (disambiguation). ... Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Combatants PLO Jordan Commanders Yasser Arafat King Hussein Casualties 7,000-8,000 killed[1] This article, Black September in Jordan, describes the events surrounding September, 1970 in Jordan. ...

Criticism of the PLO

Just before the PLO expulsion from Jordan, and during the three years that followed it, several radical Palestinian and other Arab factions split from the PLO and began to launch their own military or terrorist attacks against Israeli military and civilian targets, as well as civilian targets overseas. These included George Habash's PFLP, DFLP, Arab Liberation Front, as-Sa'iqa, Palestine Liberation Front, at that time headed by Ahmed Jibril who went on to set up the radical PFLP-GC, and Black September, a group of radical fedayeen associated with Arafat's Fatah, who carried out operations using Black September as a cover. George Habash (Arabic جورج حبش) (born August 2, 1926 in Lod), sometimes known by his nom de guerre Al-Hakim, الحكيم, meaning the doctor, is a Palestinian politician, formerly a militant, and the founder and former Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. ... The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) (Arabic Al-Jabhah al-Shabiyyah Li-Tahrir Filastin الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين) is a secular, Marxist-Leninist, nationalist Palestinian... The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Al-Jabhah al-Dimuqratiyah Li-Tahrir Filastin) is a Marxist-Leninist organization, which was founded in 1969 when it split from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). ... ALF symbol Arab Liberation Front (Arabic: جبهة التحرير العربية, jabha at-tahrir al-arabia) is a minor Palestinian political movement, politically tied to the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. ... As-Saiqa (Arabic: الصاعقة meaning thunderbolt) is a Palestinian political and military faction supported by Syria. ... The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) (جبهة التحرير الفلسطينية) is a militant Palestinian group which is designated by the United States and European Union [1] as a terrorist organization. ... Ahmed Jibril Ahmed Jibril (born 1928) is the founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), part of the left-wing, secular Palestinian rejectionist front, so-called because they reject proposals for a peaceful settlement with Israel. ... The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command is a left-wing Palestinian nationalist organization. ... A Black September terrorist on a balcony in the Olympic Village in September 1972, during what became known as the Munich Massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed. ...

Shortly after King Hussein expelled the fedayeen, Abu Nidal began broadcasting criticism of the PLO over Voice of Palestine, the PLO's own radio station in Iraq, accusing them of cowardice for having agreed to a ceasefire with Hussein, and during Fatah's Third Congress in Damascus in 1971, Abu Nidal emerged as the leader of a leftist alliance against Arafat. Together with Abu Daoud (one of Fatah's most ruthless commanders, who was later involved in the 1972 Black September kidnapping and killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic Village in Munich) and Palestinian intellectual Naji Allush, Abu Nidal called for Arafat to be overthrown as an enemy of the Palestinian people, and demanded more democracy within Fatah, as well as violent revenge against King Hussein. Seale writes that it was the last Fatah congress Abu Nidal would attend, but he had made his mark. A Black September terrorist on a balcony in the Olympic Village in September 1972, during what became known as the Munich Massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed. ... The Munich massacre occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, a group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization. ... For other uses, see Munich (disambiguation). ...

First operations and expulsion from Fatah

Main article: List of attacks attributed to Abu Nidal

Mahmoud Abbas, now president of the Palestinian National Authority, flew to Iraq to reprimand Abu Nidal for seizing the Saudi Embassy. He was told by the Iraqis: "We asked him to mount it for us." ^[22]

Abu Nidal's first operation took place on September 5, 1973, when five gunmen, using the name Al-Iqab (The Punishment), seized the Saudi embassy in Paris, taking 11 hostages and threatening to blow up the building if Abu Dawud was not released from jail in Jordan, where he had been arrested in February 1973 for an attempt on King Hussein's life. ^[23] In Algiers that same day, 56 heads of state had gathered for the 4th conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Patrick Seale writes that Iraq's president, Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, was jealous of Algeria for hosting it, and so Abu Nidal was commissioned to sabotage the proceedings with the distraction of a high-level hostage situation. Seale writes that one of the hostage-takers later admitted that his orders had been to fly the hostages back and forth until the NAM conference had ended. After a three-day siege and the intervention of the PLO, the gunmen surrendered, though not before the Kuwaiti government had agreed to pay King Hussein $12 million in exchange for Abu Dawud, according to an interview the latter gave to Seale. ^[22] Abu Nidal (Sabri al-Banna) commanded a reputation as the worlds most brutal terrorist right up until the title was claimed by Usama bin Ladin in the late 1990s. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: ) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005, and took office on January 15, 2005. ... “Palestinian government” redirects here. ... is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... This article is about the capital of Algeria. ... Member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (2005). ... General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (Arabic أحمد حسن البكر) (July 1, 1914 – October 4, 1982) was President of Iraq from 1968 to 1979. ...

Although the media blamed the attack on Black September, a Fatah front, Melman writes that Abu Nidal had carried out the operation without the permission of Abu Iyad, Arafat's deputy, who acted as the liaison between Fatah and Black September. Far from having given it the go-ahead, Abu Iyad and Mahmoud Abbas — now president of the Palestinian National Authority — flew to Iraq to reason with Abu Nidal that operations such as these harmed the movement, Abu Iyad later condemning it as "illogical adventurism." ^[23] According to Seale, the Iraqi government made it clear that the idea for the operation had been theirs. Abu Iyad told Seale that an Iraqi official at the meeting said: "Why are you attacking Abu Nidal? The operation was ours! We asked him to mount it for us." ^[22] Abbas was so angry, writes Seale, that he stormed out of the meeting, followed by the other PLO delegates, and from that point on, the PLO regarded Abu Nidal as a mercenary. ^[22] Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... A Black September terrorist on a balcony in the Olympic Village in September 1972, during what became known as the Munich Massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed. ... Abu Iyad(Arabic أبو إياد) (? - January 14, 1991)(born Salah Khalaf ( Arabic صلاح خلف)) was Palestine Liberation Organization deputy chief and intelligence chief, and at the time of his death was considered the second most senior official of Fatah after... Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: ) (born March 26, 1935), commonly known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9, 2005, and took office on January 15, 2005. ... “Palestinian government” redirects here. ...

Two months later, just after the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, during discussions about convening a peace conference in Geneva, the ANO hijacked a KLM airliner, using the name the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The operation was intended to send a signal to Fatah not to send representatives to any peace conference. In response, Arafat expelled Abu Nidal from Fatah in March 1974, and the rift between the two groups, and the two men, was complete. ^[24] Combatants  Israel  Egypt,  Syria,  Iraq Commanders Moshe Dayan, David Elazar, Ariel Sharon, Shmuel Gonen, Benjamin Peled, Israel Tal, Rehavam Zeevi, Aharon Yariv, Yitzhak Hofi, Rafael Eitan, Abraham Adan, Yanush Ben Gal Saad El Shazly, Ahmad Ismail Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Mohammed Aly Fahmy, Anwar Sadat, Abdel Ghani el-Gammasy, Abdul Munim...

The ANO

Abu Nidal in the early 1980s

By all accounts, the ANO reflected Abu Nidal's paranoid and possibly psychopathic personality, more of a mercenary group willing to act on behalf of diverse interests, than one guided by political principle.^[25] A variety of names were used as cover for different operations: Image File history File links AbuNidal. ... Image File history File links AbuNidal. ... For other senses of this word, see paranoia (disambiguation). ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ...

Fatah — the Revolutionary Council; the Palestinian National Liberation Movement; Black June; Black September; The Revolutionary Arab Brigades; The Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims; The Egyptian Revolution; Revolutionary Egypt; Al-Asifa (The Storm), a name also used by Fatah; Al-Iqab (The Punishment); and The Arab Nationalist Youth Organization.

Abu Nidal originally chose the name Black June for the group, in order to mark his disapproval of the 1976 Syrian intervention in Lebanon in support of the Christians, but changed it to Fatah-Revolutionary Council when he switched bases from Iraq to Syria in 1981. The group is now most commonly referred to as the Abu Nidal Organization or Abu Nidal group. ^[26] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is...

As'ad Abu Khalil writes in the Encyclopedia of the Palestinians that the group was based on terror and intimidation, with members not being allowed to leave once recruited, and everyone living under suspicion of being a double agent. The ANO's official newspaper Filastin al-Thawra regularly carried stories announcing the execution of traitors within the movement. ^[27] According to The Sunday Times, Abu Nidal even came to believe that his own wife worked for the CIA. ^[17] Prof. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ... “CIA” redirects here. ...

Each new recruit was given several days to write out his entire life story by hand, including names and addresses of family members, friends, and lovers, then was required to sign a paper saying he agreed to be executed if anything was found to be untrue. Every so often, the recruit would be asked to rewrite the whole thing; any discrepancies were taken as evidence that he was a spy, probably for Israel or Arafat, and he would be asked to write it out again, often after days of being beaten and nights spent forced to sleep standing up. Duane Ramsdell Dewey Clarridge, a CIA operative and director for more than 30 years, became famous in the mid-1980s for his role in the Contra end of the Iran-Contra Affair. ... Not to be confused with Yasir Arafat (cricketer). ...

By 1987, Abu Nidal had turned the full force of his terror tactics inwards on the ANO itself. Members were tortured until they confessed to betrayal and disloyalty. According to recruits who were able to escape, victims were buried alive, fed through a tube forced into their mouths, then finally killed by a bullet fired down the tube. Some had their genitals placed in skillets of boiling-hot oil. ^[28]

There were several mass purges. During one night in November 1987, 170 members were tied up, blindfolded, machine-gunned, and buried in a mass grave. Another 160 met the same fate in Libya shortly afterwards.

Gaddafi's mercenary

Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi and Abu Nidal were "great friends"

Abu Nidal started his move from Syria to Libya in the summer of 1986. He was persona non grata in Syria as a result of his operations, which brought embarrassment and danger to the Syrian government. His own operations apart, Abu Nidal was taking credit for operations he had nothing to do with, adding to Syria's unease. Seale writes that Abu Nidal claimed responsibility for the Provisional IRA's attempted murder of Margaret Thatcher in the Brighton hotel bombing in November 1984. He did the same in March 1986 when the PFLP assassinated Zafir al-Masri, the mayor of Nablus. When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, he published a congratulatory note in his magazine and ordered sweets to be distributed to the ANO membership, leading the new recruits to think he had a hand in the disaster. ^[29] Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 438 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (976 × 1335 pixels, file size: 227 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) العربية | | Deutsch | English | Español | فارسی | Français | Italiano | | | | Nederlands | Polski | Português | | Svenska | | | | +/- File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 438 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (976 × 1335 pixels, file size: 227 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) العربية | | Deutsch | English | Español | فارسی | Français | Italiano | | | | Nederlands | Polski | Português | | Svenska | | | | +/- File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared... Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (Arabic:   ) (born c. ... Look up Persona non grata in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA.[2]) is an Irish Republican, left wing[3] paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and to date only woman to hold either post. ... The Grand Hotel, Brighton, 2004 Night View of the Grand Hotel, Brighton, 2006 The Brighton hotel bombing was the attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on the Grand Hotel in the English resort city of Brighton in the early morning of October 12, 1984. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Map of the West Bank, with Nablus in the center north. ... Space Shuttle Challenger (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was NASAs second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia being the first. ...

His move to Libya was completed by March 1987. Settling in Tripoli, Abu Nidal and Libya's leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi, allegedly became great friends, Gaddafi sharing what The Sunday Times called "Abu Nidal's dangerous combination of an inferiority complex mixed with the belief that he was a man of great destiny." ^[17] It was a relationship that Gaddafi and Abu Nidal both made good use of. Abu Nidal had a steady sponsor, while Gaddafi had a mercenary in place for any operations Libyan intelligence could not carry out directly. Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (Arabic:   ) (born c. ... The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Seale reports that Libya brought out the worst in Abu Nidal; whereas before he had been dictatorial, in Libya, he became a tyrant. He would not allow members to socialize with each other; all meetings between members had to be reported to him, the prohibition applying to even the most senior members. An unreported meeting could mean death. He ordered all passports to be handed over to him. No one was allowed to travel without his permission. Ordinary members were not allowed to have a telephone; the leadership were allowed to make local calls only. Anyone traveling overseas had to stay away from duty-free stores; even the purchase of a bar of chocolate at an airport could lead to trouble. Seale writes that the pettiness was Abu Nidal's way of consolidating his power through humiliation. ^[30] His members did not know where he lived, knew nothing about his daily life. If he wanted to entertain a guest, he would commandeer the home of another member, whose wife was expected to cook and serve the meal at short notice. ^[31]

Rome and Vienna

Main article: Rome and Vienna airport attacks

Aftermath of ANO attack on the El Al ticket counter in Rome.

It was with the help of Libyan intelligence, while still living in Syria, that Abu Nidal carried out his most spectacular operation, and the one most damaging to the PLO. The Syrian government allegedly had no knowledge of the operation. ^[32] At 08:15 GMT on December 27, 1985, four gunmen approached Israel's El Al ticket counter at the Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Rome, and opened fire, killing 16 people and wounding 99 others. A few minutes later, in Vienna International Airport, three men threw hand grenades at passengers waiting to check-in to a flight to Tel Aviv, killing two and wounding 39. Austria and Italy were the two European countries with the closest ties to the PLO, and both governments were actively involved at the time of the attacks in trying to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together for peace talks. The PLO believed that the object of the attacks was to force Austria and Italy to sever ties with the Palestinians. ^[7] The Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks were two major terrorist attacks carried out on December 27, 1985. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Companies of Israel | Transportation in Israel | Airlines of Israel ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Companies of Israel | Transportation in Israel | Airlines of Israel ... Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (IATA: FCO, ICAO: LIRF), also known as Fiumicino International Airport, is Italys largest airport, with over 30 million passengers in the year 2006. ... Vienna International Airport (IATA: VIE, ICAO: LOWW) (German: Flughafen Wien-Schwechat), located 18 kilometers (11 miles) southeast of Vienna, is the busiest airport in Austria. ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ...

Seale writes that the gunmen were "Palestinian youngsters, the bitter products of refugee camps, who had been brainwashed into throwing away their lives ..." ^[33] The gunmen had been told to throw their grenades and open fire blindly at the check-in counter and that the people they saw there in civilian clothes would be Israeli pilots returning from a training mission. A former close aide of Abu Nidal told Seale that originally Frankfurt had been part of the operation too. The man who organized the attacks was the ANO's head of the Intelligence Directorate's Committee for Special Missions, Dr. Ghassan al-Ali. Sources close to Abu Nidal said that Libyan intelligence had supplied the weapons. The Libyan news agency hailed the attacks as "heroic operations carried out by the sons of the martyrs of Sabra and Shatila." ^[34]

The damage to the PLO was enormous, according to Abu Iyad, Arafat's deputy. Most people in the West and even many Arabs could not distinguish between the ANO and Fatah, he said. "In their minds, all Palestinians are guilty." ^[34] Abu Iyad(Arabic أبو إياد) (? - January 14, 1991)(born Salah Khalaf ( Arabic صلاح خلف)) was Palestine Liberation Organization deputy chief and intelligence chief, and at the time of his death was considered the second most senior official of Fatah after...

Bombing of Libya

On the night of April 15 — 16, 1986, U.S. warplanes launched a series of bombing raids from British bases ^[35][36] — the first U.S. military strikes from Britain since World War II — against Tripoli and Benghazi, killing dozens, including Hanna Gaddafi, a baby girl Gaddafi had adopted, in retaliation for the bombing on April 5 of a Berlin nightclub used by U.S. service personnel. ^[37] Operation El Dorado Canyon was the name of the joint United States Air Force and Navy air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Colourful buildings in the city centre. ... The Berlin discotheque bombing of April 5, 1986 was a terrorist attack on the West Berlin La Belle discotheque that was frequented by U.S. soldiers. ...

Libya's revenge

According to Atef Abu Bakr, a former senior member of the ANO, Gaddafi asked Abu Nidal to organize a series of revenge attacks against the U.S. and Britain, in cooperation with the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi. Abu Nidal first arranged for two British school teachers, Leigh Douglas and Philip Padfield, and an American, Peter Kilburn, to be kidnapped in Lebanon. Their bodies were found in a village east of Beirut on April 17, 1986, wrapped in white cloth and with gunshot wounds to the head. A note left nearby said: "The Arab Commando Cells are carrying out the death sentences on a CIA official and two British intelligence officers." British hostage John McCarthy was kidnapped the same day. ^[38] is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...

Abu Nidal then allegedly suggested to Senussi that an aircraft be hijacked or blown up. On September 5, 1986, an ANO team hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 at Karachi Airport on its way from Bombay to New York. The gunmen held the hostages, 389 passengers and crew, for 16 hours in the plane on the tarmac before shooting and detonating grenades inside the dark cabin. Someone was able to open an emergency door, and passengers covered in blood tumbled down the vinyl chute; 16 died and over 100 were wounded. ^[39] British media reported in March 2004 (days after Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Tripoli) that Libya was behind the hijacking.^[40] Pakistani media, as reported by South Asia Tribune, said that one of the hijackers in Adiala jail, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim al-Fahid, had confirmed the Sunday Times story (via his counsel). Al-Fahid said that the Libyan leader Gaddafi "masterminded the attack" and "he had taken the responsibility of executing the hijacking at the behest of Colonel Gaddafi." is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on September 5, 1986, by four armed men of the Abu Nidal organization. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency...

A senior member of the ANO says Abu Nidal supplied the PA 103 bomb.

In August 1987, Abu Nidal tried again, this time using an unwitting bomb mule to carry a bomb on board a flight from Belgrade, airline unknown, but the bomb failed to explode.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links PA103cockpit4. ... Image File history File links PA103cockpit4. ... PA 103 redirects here. ... For other uses, see Belgrade (disambiguation). ...

Allegedly angered by this failure, according to Atef Abu Bakr, Senussi told Abu Nidal to supply a bomb and Libyan intelligence would arrange for it to be placed on a flight.^{[citation needed]} The flight that was chosen, according to Abu Bakr, was Pan Am Flight 103, the scheduled Pan Am evening service between Frankfurt and New York via London. On December 21, 1988, it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, when a bomb was detonated in its forward cargo hold, killing all 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people in the town. On January 31, 2001, a Scottish court convicted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the former head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, for his role in the attack. The allegations of an Abu Nidal link had not been made by the time of the trial and remain unconfirmed. PA 103 redirects here. ... is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Lockerbie Town Hall, 2006. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... The Scottish Court in the Netherlands is the name given to the special court set up under Scots Law to try two Libyan agents charged with planting a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over the town of Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ... Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi (born April 1, 1952) is a former Libyan intelligence officer, head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, and director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Tripoli. ... Libyan Arab Airlines (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية العربية الليبية; transliterated: al-Khutut al-Jawiyah al-Arbiyah al-Libiyah) is the national flag carrier airline of Libya. ...

However, in June 2007 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission granted Megrahi leave to appeal against his conviction on the grounds that he may have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice. The appeal is expected to be heard in 2008 by the Court of Criminal Appeal. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is a non-departmental public body in Scotland and was established by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (as amended by the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997). ... A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime that he or she did not commit. ... The Court of Criminal Appeal was an English appellate court for criminal cases established by the Judicature Act 1873. ...

Banking with BCCI

In the late 80s, Britain's MI5 and MI6 discovered that the ANO held several accounts with the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). The bank was raided in July 1991 in seven countries because of massive fraud and its willingness to open accounts for dubious customers. The Bank of England asked financial consultants Price Waterhouse to conduct an investigation, and on June 24, 1991, the company submitted their Sandstorm report showing that the bank had engaged in "widespread fraud and manipulation," and that it had allowed organizations regarded as terrorist groups, including the ANO, to set up accounts in London. MI5 Logo. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6),[1] is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a major international bank founded in Pakistan in 1972. ... ... is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... The Sandstorm report was the name of the secret report submitted on June 22, 1991 by financial consultants Price Waterhouse to the Bank of England, showing that the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) had engaged in widespread fraud, and that organizations regarded as terrorist groups had maintained several...

Lord Justice Bingham's report showed that MI5 had known as early as 1987 that Abu Nidal was banking with BCCI in London.

The Sandstorm report showed that the manager of the Sloane Street branch of BCCI, near Harrods, had passed information about the Abu Nidal accounts to MI5, and had told them Abu Nidal himself had visited London using the name Shakir Farhan; the manager did not realize who he was dealing with until he later saw a photograph of Abu Nidal. The manager reportedly drove Abu Nidal round London's most expensive stores, including Selfridges, a tailor's on Oxford Street, and a cigar store on Jermyn Street. ^[41] Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The Right Honourable Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, KG, PC (born 13 October 1933), is one of the most senior judges in the United Kingdom. ... The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a major international bank founded in Pakistan in 1972. ... Sloane Street is a street in London which connects Knightsbridge to Sloane Square and forms the boundary between the exclusive districts of Belgravia and Chelsea. ... The Harrods storefront Harrods in 1909 The opulent Egyptian-style clothing department at Harrods, London Harrods in Buenos Aires Harrods is a department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, UK. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods... Selfridges in Birmingham. ... Jermyn Street is a street in central London, England, parallel and adjacent to Piccadilly that is famous for its resident shirtmakers. ...

When Lord Justice Bingham completed his 1992 public inquiry into the closure of BCCI, he wrote a secret 30-page appendix, called Appendix 8, about the role of the intelligence services. The appendix shows that MI5 had learned in 1987 that Abu Nidal had been using a company called SAS Trade and Investment in Warsaw as a cover for ANO business deals, ^[42] with the company director, Samir Najmeddin based in Baghdad. All SAS's deals went through BCCI in Sloane Street, and consisted largely of selling guns, night-vision goggles, and armored Mercedes-Benz cars with concealed grenade launchers, each deal often worth tens of millions of dollars, the finance consisting of misleading letters of credit arranged by the Sloane Street branch of BCCI. ^[43] The Right Honourable Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, KG, PC (born 13 October 1933), is one of the most senior judges in the United Kingdom. ... Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... This page is about the Mercedes-Benz brand of automobiles and trucks from the DaimlerChrysler automobile manufacturer. ... After a contract is concluded between buyer and seller, buyers bank supplies a letter of credit to seller. ...

Bank records showed ANO arms transactions with many Middle Eastern countries as well as with East Germany. There was no shortage of European and American clients willing to sell equipment, including British companies, one of which unwittingly sold the ANO riot guns it believed were intended for an African state, though documents show half the shipment went to East Germany and half was kept by Abu Nidal. ^[43] From 1987 until the bank was closed in 1991, British intelligence and the CIA monitored these transactions, rather than freezing them and arresting the ANO operatives and the suppliers.

Death

After Libyan intelligence operatives were indicted with the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, Gaddafi sought to distance himself from terrorism in an effort to re-establish diplomatic ties with the West. He expelled Abu Nidal, who returned to Iraq, where he had planned his first terrorist attack 26 years earlier. The Iraqi government later said Abu Nidal had entered the country using a fake Yemeni passport and was not there with their knowledge, but by 2001, at the latest, he was living there openly, and in defiance of the Jordanian government, whose state security court had sentenced him to death in absentia in 2001 for his role in the 1994 assassination of a Jordanian diplomat in Beirut. PA 103 redirects here. ... For in absentia medical care, see Health care delivery. ... This article is about the Lebanese city. ...

Jane's suggests that Saddam Hussein ordered Abu Nidal killed in 2002 in case Abu Nidal acted as a mercenary for the U.S. in the event of an invasion.

On August 19, 2002, al-Ayyam, the official newspaper of the Palestinian Authority, reported that Abu Nidal had died three days earlier of multiple gunshot wounds in his home in the wealthy al-Masbah neighborhood of al-Jadriyah, Baghdad, where the villa he lived in was owned by the Mukhabarat, or Iraqi secret service. ^[17] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1960x3008, 1365 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Saddam Hussein Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1960x3008, 1365 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Saddam Hussein Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Janes Information Group (often referred to as Janes) was founded by John F.T. Jane in 1898. ... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ... The 2003 invasion of Iraq, also called the Iraq War or Operation Iraqi Freedom, began March 20, 2003, initiated by the United States, the United Kingdom and a loosely-defined coalition. ... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... The West Bank The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA) is a semi-autonomous state institution nominally governing the bulk of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which it calls the Palestinian Territories). It was established as a part of Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel. ... Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... The Iraqi Intelligence Service (Jihaz Al-Mukhabarat Al-Ama, also known as Mukhabarat, General Directorate of Intelligence, or Party Intelligence was the main state intelligence organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. ...

Iraq's chief of intelligence, Taher Jalil Habbush, held a press conference on August 21, 2002, at which he handed out photographs of Abu Nidal's bloodied body, along with a medical report purportedly showing he had died after a single bullet had entered his mouth and exited his skull. Habbush said that Iraq's internal security force had arrived at Abu Nidal's house to arrest him on suspicion of conspiring with the Kuwaiti and Saudi governments to bring down Saddam Hussein. Saying he needed a change of clothes, Abu Nidal went into his bedroom and shot himself in the mouth, Habbush said. He died eight hours later in intensive care. ^[44] He is known to have been suffering from leukemia. is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ... Leukemia or lekemia (Greek leukos, “white”; haima, “blood”) (see spelling differences) is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation (production by multiplication) of blood cells, usually white blood cells (leukocytes). ...

Other sources disagree about the cause of death. Palestinian sources told journalists that Abu Nidal had in fact died of multiple gunshot wounds. Marie Colvin and Sonya Murad, writing in The Sunday Times, say that he was assassinated by a hit squad of 30 men from Office 8, the Iraqi Mukhabarat assassination unit. ^[17] Jane's reported that Iraqi intelligence had been following him for several months and had found classified documents in his home about a U.S. attack on Iraq. When they arrived to raid his house on August 14 (not August 16, according to Jane's), fighting broke out between Abu Nidal's men and Iraqi intelligence. In the midst of this, Abu Nidal rushed into his bedroom and was killed, though Jane's writes it remains unclear whether he killed himself or was killed by someone else. Jane's sources insist that his body bore several gunshot wounds. Janes Information Group (often referred to as Janes) was founded by John F.T. Jane in 1898. ...

Jane's suggests that Saddam Hussein may have ordered him arrested and killed because he regarded Abu Nidal as a mercenary who would have acted against him in the event of an American invasion, if the money had been right. ^[45] For other uses, see Mercenary (disambiguation). ...

References

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (‎, Arabic: ) is one of Israels oldest, largest, and most important institutes of higher learning and research. ... Dr Issam Sartawi (1935–1983) was a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO). ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... For the Haganah branch responsible for coordinating Jewish immigration into the British Mandate of Palestine, see Mossad Lealiyah Bet. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Department of State redirects here. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Prof. ... Duane Ramsdell Dewey Clarridge, a CIA operative and director for more than 30 years, became famous in the mid-1980s for his role in the Contra end of the Iran-Contra Affair. ... Michael Ledeen (born August 1, 1941) is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

Prof. ... Duane Ramsdell Dewey Clarridge, a CIA operative and director for more than 30 years, became famous in the mid-1980s for his role in the Contra end of the Iran-Contra Affair. ... Michael Ledeen (born August 1, 1941) is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. ... Yossi Melman Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. ... Daniel Pipes in Copenhagen Daniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American historian and analyst who specializes in the Middle East. ... Patrick Seale is a British journalist and author who specializes in the Middle East. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Department of State redirects here. ...

External links

• Sabri Khalil al-Banna