Abu Nidal Organization
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Abu Nidal Organization | |
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منظمة أبو نضال | |
Also known as | Fatah – Revolutionary Council |
Founding leader | Libya |
Opponents | |
Designated as a terrorist group by |
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The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO;
In practice, the ANO was leftist and secularist, as well as anti-Zionist and anti-Western.[9] In theory, it was not particularly associated with any specific ideology—or at least no such foundation was declared.[10][11] It was mostly linked with the pursuit of Abu Nidal's personal agendas.[12] The ANO was established to carry on an armed struggle in pursuit of pan-Arabism and the destruction of Israel.[1] Like other Palestinian militant groups, the ANO carried out worldwide hijackings, assassinations, kidnappings of diplomats, and attacks on synagogues. It was responsible for 90 terrorist attacks between 1974 and 1992. In 2002, Abu Nidal died under disputed circumstances in Baghdad, with Palestinian sources claiming that he was assassinated on the orders of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.[13]
Formation and background
The Abu Nidal Organization was established by
Abu Nidal's first independent 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.[14] Following the incident, Mahmoud Abbas of the PLO took flight to Iraq to meet Abu Nidal. In the meeting Abbas became so angry, 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.[15]
Two months later, just after the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, during discussions about convening a peace conference in Geneva, the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) hijacked a KLM airliner, using the name of 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 officially expelled Abu Nidal from Fatah in March 1974, and the rift between the two groups, and the two men, was complete.[16] In June the same year, ANO formed the Rejectionist Front, a political coalition that opposed the Ten Point Program adopted by the Palestine Liberation Organization in its 12th Palestinian National Congress session.[17]
Abu Nidal then moved to
Attacks
The ANO carried out attacks in 20 countries worldwide, killing or injuring about 1,650 people.
Major attacks included the
The ANO has been especially noted for its uncompromising stance on negotiation with Israel, treating anything less than all-out military struggle against Israel as treachery. This led the group to perform numerous attacks against the PLO, which had made clear it accepted a negotiated solution to the conflict. Fatah-RC is believed to have assassinated PLO deputy chief
Internal executions and torture
The ANO's official newspaper Filastin al-Thawra regularly carried stories announcing the execution of traitors within the movement.[24] Each new recruit of the ANO was given several days to write down his life story and sign a paper agreeing to his execution if anything was found to be untrue. Every so often, the recruit would be asked to rewrite the whole story. Any discrepancies were taken as evidence that he was a spy and he would be made to write it out again, often after days of being beaten and nights spent forced to sleep standing up.[25]
By 1987, Abu Nidal used extreme torture tactics on members of the ANO who were suspected of betrayal and disloyalty.[26] The tactics included hanging prisoners naked, whipping them until unconsciousness, using salt or chili powder to revive them, forcing them into a car tire for whipping and salt application, melting plastic on their skin, frying their genitals, and confining them in tiny cells bound hand and foot. If cells were full, prisoners might be buried alive with a steel pipe for breathing. Execution was carried out by firing a bullet down the pipe.[27]
From 1987 to 1988, hundreds of members of Abu Nidal's organization were killed due to internal paranoia and terror tactics. The elderly wife of a veteran member was also killed on false charges. The killings were mostly carried out by four individuals: Mustafa Ibrahim Sanduqa, Isam Maraqa, Sulaiman Samrin, and Mustafa Awad. Decisions to kill were mostly made by Abu Nidal after he had consumed a whole bottle of whiskey at night.[26] According to ANO dissidents, the attacks made by the group were unconnected to the Palestinian cause and led to their defection. In addition, they claimed the guerrilla was the "living example of paranoia".[28]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e "Terrorism Act 2000". Schedule 2, Act No. 11 of 2000. Archived from the original on 2013-01-21. Retrieved 2018-04-28. Archived 2013-01-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Evolution of Islamic Terrorism - an Overview | Target America | FRONTLINE | PBS". PBS. Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
- ISBN 978-81-7648-799-3. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-11-15. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
- ^ "Chapter 6. Foreign Terrorist Organizations // Country Reports on Terrorism 2013". U.S. Department of State. 2014. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ^ "Currently listed entities". 21 December 2018. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
- ^ "Notice for the attention of Abu Nidal Organisation 'ANO' — (a.k.a. 'Fatah Revolutionary Council', a.k.a. 'Arab Revolutionary Brigades', a.k.a. 'Black September', a.k.a. Revolutionary Organisation of Socialist Muslims included on the list provided for in Article 2(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism". Official Journal of the European Union. 2011. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ^ "MOFA: Implementation of the Measures including the Freezing of Assets against Terrorists and the Like". Archived from the original on 2013-04-06. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-6311-8. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-11-15. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
- ISBN 978-81-7648-799-3. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-11-15. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
- ^ "The Evolution of Islamic Terrorism - an Overview | Target America | FRONTLINE | PBS". PBS. Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
- ^ "Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) - Mackenzie Institute". Archived from the original on 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
- ^ "Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)". The Mackenzie Institute. Archived from the original on 2021-03-01. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ "Mystery death of Abu Nidal, once the world's most wanted terrorist". the Guardian. August 20, 2002. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
- ^ Melman 1986, p. 69.
- ^ Seale 1992, p. 92.
- ^ Melman 1986, p. 70.
- ^ Chakhtoura, Maria, La guerre des graffiti, Beyrouth, Éditions Dar an-Nahar, 2005, page 136.
- ^ "Abu Nidal Organization" Archived February 7, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, Country Reports on Terrorism, 2004. United States Department of State, 2005.
- ^ Seale 1992, pp. 243–244.
- ISBN 978-3-7568-5364-9. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-12-12. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- from the original on 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ISBN 978-1-4411-8572-3.
- ^ Archer, Graeme. "Abu Nidal". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on September 21, 2002. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
- ^ Abu Khalil, 2000.
- ^ Seale 1992, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b Seale 1992, pp. 287–289.
- ^ Clarridge 1997, cited in Ledeen 2002.
- Also see Seale 1992, pp. 286–287.
- ^ "Abu Nidal Battles Dissidents". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
Sources
- Melman, Yossi (1986). The Master Terrorist: The True Story of Abu-Nidal. University of Michigan. ISBN 9780915361526.
- Seale, Patrick (1992). Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire. Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091753276.