Henri Curiel, Jewish Founder of Egyptian Communist Party, Killed

The Jewish founder of the Egyptian Communist Party, Henri Curiel, 62, was shot to death this afternoon by two assailants. Later, a group identifying itself as the “Delta Commando” claimed responsibility for the attack saying Curiel was “a KGB agent, a defender of the Arab cause and a traitor to France where he had sought asylum.” Police sources said they had no immediate clues as to the group which carried out the killing. The “Delta Commando” was active during the Algerian War but was believed to have disappeared since.

Curiel had been accused of being a central figure in the “world revolutionary movement” and was placed under house arrest last October. he had since been allowed to return to his home in the Latin Quarter.

He had been active in pro-Communist congresses and organizations dealing with the Middle East and attended the recent Peace for the Middle East Congress which was held in Paris last autumn and attended by Israeli and Arab delegates. Curiel was born into a wealthy Jewish banking family in Egypt. He became active in left-wing organizations while still in his teens. He is credited with having helped found the Egyptian Communist Party. Arrested by King Farouk’s political police, he was released after a long and painful detention and exiled abroad in 1951.

A political refugee in France, he nonetheless is believed to have helped the Algerian National Front during the Algerian War, 1954-62, and was several times questioned by the French police. He was detained by the French security services for over one year during the Algerian War on a preventive basis.

In the 1960s, Curiel began taking an interest in Arab-Israeli relations and believed that an understanding between the two can be reached “via the Palestinian people.” He often met dovish Israeli leaders such as Meir Payil and Arye Eliav and helped put them in contact with various Palestinian circles.