The bomb death in Beirut yesterday of Ali Hassan Salameh, the notorious “Abu Hassan” who engineered the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, was greeted with grim satisfaction in Israel today. The terrorist leader, a member of the top echelon of El Fatah and a close personal associate of PLO chief Yaser Arafat, left a trail of murder and bloodshed in his wake.
Israeli security sources recalled that Salameh, born 38 years ago, inherited a legacy of violence. His father, Hassan Salameh, led Arab marauders, during the 1936-38 disturbances in Palestine. He fled to Germany and offered his services to the Nazis during World War 11. He was dropped by parachute near Jericho in 1944 to organize an Arab uprising behind Allied lines. He failed in that mission and was killed four years later during Israel’s war for independence.
The younger Salameh was an early member of El Fatah, the terrorist arm of the PLO and rose rapidly in its ranks. He was one of the “brains” behind the murderous “Block September” gang that carried out numerous assassinations, terrorist attacks off civilians and aerial hijackings, culminating in the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in September, 1972.
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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.
