BACKGROUND The Struggle Of Abu Nidal: Arch-Terrorist Self-Destructs HELEN DAVIS SEE OUR FABULOUS 1990 COLLECTION OF Foreign Correpondent SWIM SUITS And Beach Accessories • GOTTEX • ROXANNE • HARBOUR CASUALS and Introducing for 1990 • BILL BLASS and "SLIM SUIT" • OTHER FAMOUS BRANDS AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS MAKES Warm-up Suits 30% OFF AND OTHER FAMOUS BRAND I MODEL COATS PSMLXLXXL 25% OFF THE COVERUP WITH ALTERNATIVES... Selected Maidenform' ALL COTTON PANTIES for your busy life in and around your home. 1/2 OFF BIRMINGHAM (Bloomfield Commons) 3615 WEST MAPLE RD (15 Mile Rd ) at LAHSER•644-4576 Open 10-6 Da Iy DESIGN-IT, INC. 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Over the past four months, some 165 members of Abu Nidal's 800-strong Fatah Revolutionary Council (ieRC) are reported to have been killed, and his ongoing purge of his movement is said to be driven by a des- cent into severe paranoia. Abu Nidal's behavior reportedly has been unstable since 1984, but over the past year it has undergone a seri- ous decline. He now drinks heavily and his mood alter- nates dramatically between suicidal depression and a belief that he possesses divine powers. He is consumed by suspi- cion of duplicity within the ranks of his organization and at one point even suspected his wife of being a CIA agent. He is reported to have liquidated his entire 29-man central committee and to have killed at least 20 senior followers with his own hands. In addition, he has ordered the summary death of all who have ques- tioned his execution orders. The first victim of Abu Nidal's purge was Omar Mohmen, a senior FRC operative, who was executed in Kuwait. The second, which followed shortly afterward, was Mustapha Murad, who had been his deputy. The first indication of the scale of the internal blood- letting came in early September when Younis Amran, a close aide to Abu Nidal, called a press con- ference in Beirut to an- nounce the execution of 15 "spies" who allegedly had been recruited by the Mossad, Israel's foreign in- telligence agency. Among the victims, 14 men and a woman whom he said had been "executed inside and outside Palestine," were two Egyptians, an Iraqi, a Lebanese and 11 Palesti- nians. A short time later, 20 of Abu Nidal's most senior . . .. ........ ^•,: • - . Artwork from Newsday by Ned Levine. Copyright C 1989, Newsday. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate. lieutenants obeyed a summons to attend an urgent meeting at his head- quarters just outside the Li- byan capital of Tripoli. When they had gathered, they were slaughtered. In addition, more than 100 FRC foot-soldiers are reported to have been exec- uted at their military bases in Lebanon. In one incident, at least 40 followers were shot dead at the Rashadiyeh refugee camp, south of the Lebanese port city of Tyre; in another, 20 were killed in Sidon, although an FRC offi- cial later claimed they had been the victims of an Israeli air raid on the city. Last weekend, the London Sunday Times reported that two senior defectors from Abu Nidal's ranks, who have now gone into hiding, along with scores of other former Abu Nidal loyalists, appeal- ed to PLO leader Yassir Arafat for protection. In an attempt to win Arafat's favor, the two are reported to have provided a graphic description of Abu Nidal's apparent descent into insanity, as well as a detailed account of the struc- ture and activities of the FRC. According to Abdul Issa, one of the defectors, Abu Nidal's psychological prob- lems "exploded" over the past year and he now ac- cuses anyone who disagrees with him of being an Israeli or Jordanian agent. This information has since been passed on to Western intelligence agencies which had been largely unsuc- cessful in penetrating the shield of secrecy which in- sured that details of Abu Nidal's organization re- mained behind a seemingly impenetrable curtain. Arafat, however, is unlike- ly to provide the luckless defectors with a refuge. Still fearing Abu Nidal's threat to his own safety — and bitter at Abu Nidal's liqui- dation of so many of his closest aides (see sidebar) — Arafat has declared private- ly that he would not open his ranks to men who who had served his arch enemy so faithfully and for so long. Sabri al-Banna, now aged 55, was born to a wealthy merchant family which in- habited a home in Jaffa that is now officially designated as the Tel Aviv Military Court. He attended the Catholic College des Freres in Jaffa, and after Israel's victory in the 1948 War of In- dependence, the family mov- ed to the West Bank town of Nablus, which was then, as now, the fiery cauldron of Palestinian nationalism. In Nablus, young Sabri became deeply immersed in politics and, shortly after Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, he decided to emigrate to Jordan, then the center of radical Palestinian affairs, in order to avoid what must have seemed to be an inevitable confronta- tion with the Israeli security forces. Sabri Al-Banna not only changed his country, he also changed his name. He became Abu Nidal — "Father of the Struggle" — caught the eye of Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf), now Arafat's deputy, and quickly climbed the leadership ladder. In 1969, perhaps sensing