Sylvia's
an unpredictable future
rival, Arafat dispatched him
to set up a branch of the PLO
in Khartoum, but Abu
Nidal's activities, par-
ticularly among students, so
worried the Sudanese au-
thorities that he was expell-
ed after just eight months.
The following year, one
month before Black
September, when the PLO
leaders and fighters were
driven out of Jordan, Abu
Nidal was sent on a similar
mission to the Iraqi capital
of Baghdad. -
Here, his message of
radicalism and uncom-
promising violence was car-
ried to an audience
throughout the Middle East
via a powerful radio
transmitter in Baghdad.
Abu Nidal found a receptive
audience and, most impor-
tant, he found that he com-
manded a substantial per-
sonal following.
As Yassir Arafat and his
fighters were regrouping in
the Lebanese capital of
Beirut following their expul-
sion from Jordan, their man
in Baghdad was becoming
increasingly disenchanted
by the more moderate rhet-
oric emanating from the
PLO leader.
Nevertheless, despite his
growing apprehensions
about the future course of
the PLO, Abu Nidal con-
tinued to take full advan-
tage of all the opportunities
that came his way and, in
1972, as a rising PLO star,
he traveled to North Korea
and China for military train-
ing. If anything, the experi-
ences strengthened his belief
in the "purity" of the armed
struggle and deepened his
mistrust of his masters in
Beirut.
He was enraged by the
PLO's decision in 1973 to
disband the Black
September terrorist group,
which had perpetrated,
among other atrocities, the
Munich Olympic massacre,
and by the PLO's decision to
engage the United States in
secret contacts.
(Five years later, accor-
ding to some sources, Jimmy
Carter's wife, Rosalynn,
acted as a channel of secret
diplomacy with the PLO's
Sa'id Hamami when her
husband was negotiating the
Camp David Accords;
Hamami was subsequently
assassinated by Abu Nidal.)
For Abu Nidal, however,
the ultimate betrayal came
in 1974, when he heard that
Arafat had been invited to
address the General
Assembly of the United
Nations in New York and
was planning to use the oc-
casion to offer an olive bran-
ch to the hated Zionist
enemy. The Fatah Revolu-
tionary Council was born.
Arafat reacted swiftly. On
July 26, 1974, the Palestine
news agency announced that
Abu Nidal had been remov-
ed from all his official posi-
tions, expelled from the PLO
and sentenced to death.
Baghdad officials, which had
found a potent tool in their
new protege, refused to even
consider a PLO request for
Abu Nidal's extradition.
Now, with the active
assistance of the Iraqi au-
thorities, Abu Nidal planned
his solo debut onto the stage
of international terrorism —
the assassination of the
leaders of Jordan, Morocco,
Saudi Arabia and Sudan at
the October 1974 Arab
summit in Rabat, which had
been convened specifically to
crown the PLO as the sole
legitimate representative of
the Palestinian people.
Moroccan intelligence
agents uncovered the plot,
arrested the perpetrators
and aborted the operation,
but Abu Nidal was not de-
terred.
The following month, a
group of his followers hi-
jacked a British airliner and
forced it to fly to Tunis,
demanding the release of 15
of their comrades who were
being held in Egypt, and the
withdrawal of the PLO dele-
gation at the United
Nations.. Abu Iyad im-
mediately flew to Tunis and
negotiated what he later
described as a happy ending
to the drama.
There was, however, no
rapprochement between
Arafat and his arch rival,
whose resolve was set in
concrete by the PLO leader's
address to the UN.
Abu Nidal, meanwhile,
had yet to learn the golden
rule about free lunches and
had fallen into a carefully
laid trap. While accepting
generous hospitality from
his Iraqi hosts — as well as
weapons, training and
logistical support for his
followers — he had become a
virtual puppet of the Iraqi
regime.
Those who remain loyal to
him, however, are today
reported to number less than
5 0 .
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