Abu Daoud, a Palestine Liberation Organization official who helped plot the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, is still living in East Berlin, according to the West Berlin daily Berliner Morgenpost.
East German authorities confirmed Monday that police recently opened an investigation to locate and possibly arrest Abu Daoud.
The information follows on the heels of revelations that East Germany and other Eastern bloc countries gave shelter and aid to notorious terrorists from many countries.
There has been a flurry of such disclosures in recent weeks, as the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe come to grips with their Communist past.
Among the previous revelations were that the Soviet KGB gave succor to members of the Italian Red Brigades terrorist group and that Hungary helped hide Carlos, the notorious Venezuelan terrorist believed responsible for masterminding the June 1976 Air France hijacking to Entebbe.
Information about the former East German regime’s role in protecting Abu Daoud and other international terrorists was reported last week by the country’s interior minister, Peter-Michael Diestel.
According to Berliner Morgenpost, Abu Daoud had been a frequent guest in East Berlin’s luxury Palast Hotel, where he had been registered under the name “Tarek.”
COOPERATION WITH ISRAEL POSSIBLE
The much-sought PLO terrorist had been a guest at the hotel as late as in 1988. The hotel management and personnel reportedly knew Abu Daoud’s real identity but remained silent.
Abu Daoud survived a 1981 attempt on his life in Warsaw, according to another German news report. Since then, there has been no word on the whereabouts of him or any other surviving Palestinian terrorists who massacred 11 Israeli athletes and coaches taking part in the Munich games.
Israeli agents are known to have traced down and killed most of the men directly responsible for the massacre.
East German Interior Ministry sources said police are now attempting to uncover the whereabouts of other terrorists. They mentioned the possibility of coordinating their search with Israeli authorities. Israel and East Germany do not have diplomatic relations.
In another development, Sigrid Sternebeck, a West German terrorist who had found haven in East Germany, was extradited Sunday to West Germany.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
