Washington savoured Wednesday the arrest of 1980s-era Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas in Baghdad, calling it a vindication of their decision to invade Iraq.
“When we came into this the Secretary of Defence said one big concern was the nexus between this regime and terrorism. This proves the nexus was there,” U.S. Navy Captain Frank Thorp told reporters at war headquarters in Qatar.
Another spokesman, Brigadier-General Vince Brooks, said the capture in Baghdad was proof of U.S. assertions that “the Iraqi regime … harboured terrorists and provided safe haven for terrorists.”
Abu Abbas, whose real name is Mohammed Abbas, was convicted of leading the 1985 hijacking of an Italian cruise liner and is believed to have founded the Palestine Liberation Front. He was convicted in absentia in Italy has lived in Baghdad since 1991, with brief forays into the West Bank and Gaza. He is said to have made several unsuccessful attempts in recent weeks to flee into Syria and Iran before being captured by U.S. special forces in a raid Monday.
U.S. anger over the Achille Lauro attack was high because of the killing of Leon Klinghoffer, an American, and because of the Italian government’s involvement in Abu Abbas’s escape. The government in Rome refused to hold Mr. Abbas in custody after U.S. Navy fighter jets forced down his plane in Sicily. The Italians took custody of four hijackers but said that Washington’s evidence against Mr. Abbas was insufficient and that he was also protected by his diplomatic passport, issued by Iraq.
Within two days, Mr. Abbas had left the country. Two weeks later, Italian magistrates filed charges and issued an arrest warrant, which remains outstanding. Italy on Wednesday demanded his extradition to face justice for the cruise-ship hijacking and a Palestinian leader demanded his release under the terms of an eight-year-old Mideast peace deal overseen by the United States.
“We ask the U.S. administration for the immediate release of Abu Abbas and for it to respect the 1995 interim agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel ... and signed by [then-] U.S. president Bill Clinton,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat told Agence France-Presse.
He said that a clause of the agreement prevents the arrest or detention of Palestinians for acts of political violence committed before the 1993 Oslo peace accord. What he did not say was that the deal was co-signed by the United States, Russia, Egypt, Norway and the European Union, but only as witnesses, and that it is at its heart a bilateral agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
A senior Israeli official countered that the deal did not give “immunity” to all terrorists, but rather gave them a chance to renounce violence and help build a stable Middle East.
“That was not a sweeping immunity, they were allowed to return to Gaza on condition that they turned their backs on terrorism and embraced the peace process. They never complied,” the official, insisting on anonymity.
There are no grounds to extradite Mr. Abbas to the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said, and it was unclear at first whether he would be sent to Italy or face new U.S. charges.
The attack on the liner Achille Lauro occurred in October, 1985. Mr. Abbas and three others commandeered the ship on a voyage to Israel from Egypt with 349 people aboard, including six Canadians. The attackers killed Leon Klinghoffer, 69, who used a wheelchair, and threw his body and the wheelchair overboard. Until the hijacking, the PLF was based in Tunis. Afterward, Abu Abbas and the headquarters of the organization moved to Iraq.
Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal died in a mysterious shootout in Baghdad last year, and the presence of the PLF and its leader in Baghdad were often cited by U.S. officials to back their contention that the regime of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein backed terrorism. But Mr. Abbas has recently denounced some terrorist acts, including the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings in the United States.
"The capture of Abu Abbas in Iraq removes a portion of the terror network supported by Iraq and represents yet another victory in the global war on terrorism," a statement issued Tuesday by U.S. Central Command says.
Israel said it has uncovered PLF cells still operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and that the cells continue to stage terrorist attacks. It was unclear whether the PLF has been directly involved in attacks against Israel since the collapse of the peace process nearly three years ago.
In the mid-1990s, Israel turned a blind eye when Abu Abbas spent time in Gaza. In April, 1996, he was interviewed in Gaza, and apologized for the killing of Mr. Klinghoffer, but his remorse was rejected by the Klinghoffer family. He also said the hijacking was a mistake.
With reports from The Globe and Mail’s Paul Koring in Washington
