Abu Jihad

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Khalil Al-Wazir (October 10, 1935–April 16, 1988), better known by the kunya "Abu Jihad" (Arabic: father of Jihad) and "Al-Wazir" (the top minister), was a founder of the Palestinian group Fatah (which later formed the dominant part of the PLO), and later a top aide to Yassir Arafat and a guerrilla leader. Al-Wazir played an important role in the 1970-71 Black September clashes in Jordan, and was the mastermind behind several high-profile militant operations against Israel during the 1970s. He was assassinated in Tunis in 1988, by Israeli commandos under the supervision of Ehud Barak,[1] who later became Prime Minister of Israel . The Israeli government considered him to be a high-ranking terrorist, Arafat's second in command. US condemned his murder as "act of political assassination".

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[edit] Early life

Born in Ramla, Al-Wazir became a Palestinian refugee in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. He settled in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, where he completed his secondary education. In 1954 Egyptian authorities began to suspect that he was planning and executing violent acts against Israelis. He was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, for which he was briefly imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities. Al-Wazir received his military training in Cairo while attending classes at the University of Alexandria in 1956 but he never graduated. In 1959 he found work as a teacher in Kuwait and remained there until 1963.

[edit] Fatah activity

[edit] 1960s

Al-Wazir's stay in Kuwait put him in touch with comrades with whom he later founded the Fatah movement, becoming Fatah's deputy leader (following Yasser Arafat). Al-Wazir settled in Algeria in 1963, where he opened a Fatah office and military training camp. Since then, he was one of the early full-time (Mutafarrigh) members of Fatah. Al-Wazir was also one of the founding editors of Filastinuna, the official organ of Fatah. He was in charge of the recruitment and training of Fatah fighters, creating the nucleus of the fighting force of Fatah, later known as Al-Asifa (The Storm).

Al-Wazir cultivated ties with military leaders in socialist countries. He visited the People's Republic of China in 1964 and later preached "a people's liberation war," although he never supported communism as an ideology. In fact, his political sympathies lay with the conservative Muslim Brotherhood, which he had encountered in Gaza. Nevertheless, he also visited North Vietnam and North Korea, where Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) information brochures claim he received advanced military education, but which other sources dispute.

In 1965, Abu Jihad settled in Damascus, Syria, taking advantage of the Syrian Ba'thist regime's support of the doctrine of people's liberation war. He became the major link between underground cells inside Israel and the Palestinian national movement. The 1967 Arab defeat in the Six-Day War propelled him into a key leadership position with the PLO and Fatah, made possible by his reputation as an expert on people's liberation war, considered the only way to defeat Israel at the time. He assumed major responsibilities in the Central Committee of Fatah, in the command of the forces of al-Asifa, on the Palestinian National Council, and on the Supreme Military Council of the PLO. He was also put in charge of commando (guerrilla warfare) operations in the Occupied Territories and inside Israel.

[edit] 1970s

Abu Jihad played an important military role in Jordan in 1970-1971 during the Black September clashes, He also supplied the encircled Palestinian forces in Jerash and Ajlun. Then, like other PLO leaders, he relocated to Beirut, Lebanon, and kept a low profile. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975, he voiced his support and helped increase the forces of PLO's Lebanese allies. Meanwhile, his main interest remained with the Occupied Territories; more than any other person inside the PLO and Fatah, Abu Jihad is credited with the development of underground cells in the West Bank and Gaza Strip despite Israeli counter-attempts. It is believed that Al-Wazir's contacts with socialist countries helped him to augment the military power of the PLO. The resulting arms acquisition changed the PLO's fighting forces into a conventional army, rather than the "people's liberation forces" on which he had earlier insisted. Nevertheless, Abu Jihad remained close to his fighters; avoiding the lure of Beirut, he established his headquarters in Kayfun, near Alayh in Mount Lebanon.

Unlike other PLO leaders, Abu Jihad did not allow the Lebanese environment to discredit his role within the movement; he was never tainted by the massive corruption and thuggery that swept the ranks of PLO officials. Although he was less visible than most of his comrades, he commanded the respect and loyalty of most Palestinians, including members of rival organizations. His close relationship with Yasir Arafat was greatly to Arafat's benefit, since Arafat was being constantly challenged from within over his search for a diplomatic solution to the Palestinian problem: Abu Jihad provided the "revolutionary" cover that Arafat needed to continue his diplomatic pursuits.

It was during his stay in Lebanon during the 1970s when Al-Wazir was responsible for the high-profile operations which became associated with his name. He was allegedly the mastermind behind the Savoy Operation in 1975, and Dalal Mughrabi's attack on a bus (Coastal Road massacre) in March 1978.

[edit] 1980s

Abu Jihad did not distinguish himself in the 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon, in which top PLO leaders retreated in the face of massive Israeli force. The invasion forced Al-Wazir, along with other PLO leaders, to relocate farther away from the Palestinian territories, this time in Tunisia. The war seemed to change Al-Wazir's political and military philosophy; apparently, he lost faith in the PLO's ability to deliver a solution to the Palestinians from outside the Occupied Territories. Instead, he believed in the power of the masses in the West Bank and Gaza. In 1982, he began to sponsor youth committees in the Occupied Territories, committees that became the embryonic organization that later ignited the First Intifada in December 1987. However, Abu Jihad did not live long enough to see that uprising; he was assassinated in April 1988.

[edit] Assassination

Main article: Tunis Raid

Al-Wazir was assassinated at close range in his home along at 2 a.m. on April 16, 1988. His wife and children, were present during the assassination. Abu Jihad is widely believed to have been assassinated by an Israeli commando team (consisting of units from Shayetet 13 and Sayeret Matkal) reportedly ferried from Israel by boat, aided ashore by Mossad agents and led by Moshe Ya'alon, who later became the IDF's Chief of Staff. While this has never been officially acknowledged by Israeli officials, it was unofficially alluded-to by many.

In 1997 a revelation came in a Maariv newspaper report on the execution of Khalil al-Wazir, who Israel believes coordinated the start of the 1987-93 Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from PLO headquarters in Tunis. The report claimed that Ehud Barak led a seaborne command center that oversaw the 1988 assassination of Abu Jihad.

Israel has never taken responsibility for the killing of al-Wazir, also known as Abu Jihad. Government spokesman Moshe Fogel and aides to Barak declined comment.

The paper said Barak, who was then deputy military chief, coordinated the planning by the Mossad, the army's intelligence branch; the air force; navy; and elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit. Barak ran the assassination operation from a command center on a navy missile boat off the shore of Tunis, Maariv said.

Maariv said Mossad intelligence agents watched al-Wazir's home for months before the April 15, 1988, raid in which an Israeli officer shot the PLO official at his home.

[edit] Legacy

Abu Jihad is greatly admired throughout the Arab and Islamic world, where his name has become synonymous with struggles against oppression and freedom fighting. He was survived by three sons: Jihad, Bassem and Nidal, and two daughters: Iman and Hanan. Abu Jihad was married to his cousin, Intissar Al-Wazir (kunya: Umm Jihad, mother of Jihad), who returned to Gaza following the Oslo Accords and in 1996 became the first female minister in the Palestinian National Authority.

The Israel government and most of the Israeli public, on the other hand, would likely consider Abu Jihad a dangerous terrorist and a murderer for his role in fatal attacks on Israeli civilians, and his role in igniting the first intifada against the Israelis.

Abu Jihad is mentioned in Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series of novels. These novels are about the adventures of an art restorer and occasional assassin for Mossad. In the novels, it is mentioned that Gabriel Allon killed Abu Jihad.

[edit] Family life

He was married to Intisar al-Wazir, who became an important Palestinian politician in her own right.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Barak Associated Press by Gwen Ackerman. 4 July, 1997 - Assassination of Abu Jihad [1]
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