Seven year prison sentences pronounced here last Friday on three former members of Parliament and a Jordanian businessman for collaborating with Palestine terrorists, officially closed a case that had been shrouded in mystery since the arrests were made last November.
But it opened to public scrutiny an unsavory record of Italian government appeasement of Palestinian terrorist groups since the early 1970s. Ironically, one of the chief authors of that policy was the late Aldo Moro, leader of the Christian Democratic Party, who was himself murdered by terrorists.
The relatively mild prison terms were given to Daniele Pifano, Sergio Baumgartner, Luciano Nieri and Abu Salgh Hanzek, the latter a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian origin. They were convicted on charges of “detention and transport of arms of war” when they agreed to act as go-between for George Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Their specific offense was the reception of two Strela ground-to-air missiles that were off-loaded from the freighter Sidon at the Adriatic coastal town of Ortona last November 7.
The vessel had arrived from a Middle Eastern part, presumably in Lebanon. The defendants were acquitted of the more serious charge of “importing arms of war.” The court took into consideration a letter written by the PFLP to their lawyers attesting that the missiles were “in transit” and that their final destination was “not Italy.” The missiles were of the same type used by Palestinian terrorists in an attempt to shoot down an El Al plane over Ostia, near Rome, in September, 1973.
MEMBERS OF LEFT-WING GROUP
Three ex-Parliamentarians were all members of the left-wing “Autonomy” political group. Abu Salgh, a garment industry executive, had connections with the PFLP in Bologna. Baumgartner, an X-ray technician of the University of Rome Hospital, had been active in the past organizing the transportation of medical items to Palestinian refugee camps. His name was found in Abu Salgh’s address book.
The connection of the Italian extremists with Habash’s group was revealed only after the PFLP’s letter was made public by their defense attorneys. This led to an expose in the Italian press of what had been an open secret in some circles — the Italian government’s collaboration with Palestinian terrorists since-1972 — when a series of terrorist acts were occurring on Italian soil.
Gen. Vito Miceli, former chief of the Italian secret service (SID) revealed details of this collaboration in an interview published in the weekly L’Espresso. “At that time (1972) there was the danger of Palestinian terrorism, an exceptional situation that had to be met with exceptional means,” Miceli said. “On the basis of precise orders by the government, of which all ministers were informed, we contacted the various Palestinian groups and made arrangements whose purpose was to avoid (terrorist) attempts that would involve Italy.
The person who represented the Italian authorities in these negotiations over the last eight years is Col. Stefano Giovannoni, a diplomat stationed in Beirut. Giovannoni was mentioned by Moro, in letters written during his captivity by the Red Brigade terrorists, as the ideal man to bargain for his release.
Moro was the head of the Italian Foreign Ministry when “deals” with the Palestinian terrorists were made and it was under his direction that all Palestinians detained in Italian jails were eventually freed. These included two terrorists who had attempted to down the El Al plane. They were secretly flown out of the country on an Italian military aircraft which exploded mysteriously on its way back to Italy, killing its crew.
Similarly, five other terrorists arrested in possession of Strela missiles in 1973 were released on payment of 60 million lire bail and flown to Algiers accompanied by an official of the SID, presumably Antonio La Bruno.
In his letters from captivity, Moro pleaded with his own Christian Democrat Party to follow the example of past governments that compromised with Palestinian terrorists in order to save his own life But the government and the Christian Democrats took a hard line in the Moro case which proved fatal to him.
THREE FIRSTS REVEALED
L’Espresso observed that the latest “missiles case” revealed three facts of prime importance: “This is the first time a Palestinian organization (PFLP) has officially admitted importing arms into Europe and having ties with Italian extremists; it is the first time that there has been no attempt by the Italian government to hide the fact that a non-aggression pact (probably verbal) exists between the Italian secret service and Palestinian groups, involving hands-off planes and Italian air space in return for benevolent assistance by Italy to the Palestinian cause; and this is the first time the Italian government has admitted some of these facts.”
Observers here say the case must be viewed in terms of the closer official relationship of the Italian government with the Palestine Liberation Organization which “supposedly” does not include the PFLP, and the shifting oil power interests in the confused Middle East situation. (By Lisa Palmieri-Billig)
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