UP FRONT
Assassination Of PLO Leaders
May Make Group More Radical
GIL SEDAN
Special to The Jewish News
W
hoever orchestrated
Monday night's
assassination in
Tunis of two top leaders of
the Palestine Liberation
Organization may have
struck a fatal blow at the
PLO mainstream and set the
stage for radicalization of
the Palestinian nationalist
movement, experts in
Jerusalem here believe.
Defense Minister Moshe
Arens promptly denied any
Israeli involvement in the
act. But Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip
appeared convinced it was
the work of the Mossad,
Israel's secret service.
Curfews were clamped on
many parts of the territories
to pre-empt violent reac-
tions.
The victims were Salah
Khalaf, the PLO's No. 2
leader, and Hail Abdul
Hamid, the PLO security
chief. Mr. Khalaf, popularly
known as Abu Iyad, was,
after Yassir Arafat, second
in command of Al Fatah, the
PLO's largest faction. Abdul
Hamid, known popularly as
Abu Hol, commanded
Fatah's western front.
Also slain was Fakhri al-
Omari, a chief aide to Mr.
Khalaf.
The three were gunned
down by Hamza Abu Zeid,
who had been Abdul
Hamid's bodyguard and who
was arrested.
Some sources in Tunisia
attributed the slayings to
the Libyan-backed Abu
Nidal terrorist group, which
they said had succeeded in
infiltrating Fatah.
Abu Nidal, who opposes
Mr. Arafat's leadership, was
expelled from the PLO in
1974. Believed to have
masterminded the October
1985 hijacking of the Achille
Lauro cruise ship, he tops
Washington's list of wanted
terrorists.
But Palestinians here
clearly were not buying the
Abu Nidal theory. They
recall the April 1988
assassination in Tunis of
Khalil al-Wazir, known as
Abu Jihad, who was then the
PLO's No. 2 man. His killing
was widely attributed to
Israeli commandos, a charge
Israeli officials would
neither confirm nor deny.
Ehud Ya'ari, a knowl-
edgeable Middle East com-
mentator for Israel Televi-
sion, said Tuesday night
that the shots fired in Tunis
were aimed at Baghdad.
He presumably was referr-
ing to the PLO's support of
Iraqi leader Saddam Hus-
sein in the Persian Gulf
crisis.
The view in Jerusalem is
that whoever was responsi-
ble for the killings sent a
message that those who
employ international terror-
ism should take into account
that the other side can use it
too.
But who the "other side" is
in this instance is not clear.
Mr. Khalafs death leaves
Arafat with only two still
alive of the five men with
whom he founded Fatah
more than 30 years ago.
In the case of Mr. Khalaf,
he lost his chief ideologist
and closest friend.
As one commentator
observed, had a Palestinian
state existed, the assassina-
tions would have eliminated
its defense minister and
chief of staff in one blow.
Salah Khalaf, 57, was born
in Jaffa. He was not a mem-
ber of the PLO's 15-member
executive committee but was
considered the organiza-
tion's main ideologist and
strategist.
He was the key person
behind the idea of a secular
Moshe Arens:
No Israeli involvement.
Yassir Arafat:
Loses closest friend.
state in Palestine, in which
Jews and Arabs would live
together. That idea replaced
the original PLO ideology,
which saw no place for Jews
in Palestine.
In recent years, Mr.
Khalaf encouraged meetings
between Palestinian leaders
and representatives of the
Israeli left.
As such, he was the key
figure behind the initiative
two years ago to declare an
independent Palestinian
state, which implied recog-
nition of the State of Israel.
Mr. Khalaf had a PLO ca-
reer that ranged from most
bloody to conciliatory, even a
voice of moderation.
He was a founder and
leader of the terrorist Black
September organization,
which was responsible for
the massacre of 11 Israeli
athletes at the Munich
Olympics of 1972. But he
was also the man who made
a videotaped address to
Israelis calling for peace.
In August 1988, he said he
was ready to start discus-
sions with Israel, which the
PLO "naturally" recognized.
In an interview with a Fren-
ch newspaper, he called for
mutual recognition between
Arab and Jewish states
called for by a new Palestin-
ian provisional government
that would be "wholly diff-
erent from the actual PLO's
national convenant."
The number of the Lung
Line is 1-800-222-LUNG
(5864).
Welfare Federation, showed
that 19 percent of the Jewish
community here keeps
kosher.
❑
ROUND UP
•-
Former Temple
Finds New Life
St. Louis, Mo. — The old
United Hebrew Temple
building, vacated last year
by its congregation, will
again breath life as the
Missouri Historical Society's
new library and research
center.
The former temple, one of
the nation's three largest
when it was built in 1925, is
undergoing a $9.1 renova-
tion. When opened to the
public next year, it will
house the Historical
Society's collections of
books, manuscripts, news-
papers, maps, prints and
photographs. These include
the private papers of
Thomas Jefferson and
Charles Lindbergh, as well
as the original journals from
the Lewis and Clark expedi-
tion.
The United Hebrew con-
gregation, founded in 1837,
was the first Jewish con-
gregation established west
of the Mississippi River.
services to fill out the mi-
nyan. "Also present was a
redheaded fellow named
Solomon," Rabbi Grollman
recalled. "Everyone was
surprised to find out later
that he was actually Irish
Catholic. But he enthusi-
astically attended services
on all holy days thereafter."
Cleaning a frieze at the former
United Hebrew Temple.
Although now one of the two
largest in St. Louis, United
Hebrew had modest origins.
"The first services were
held during the High Holy
Days on the second floor of
Max's Grocery in downtown
St. Louis," said United Heb-
rew Rabbi Emeritus Jerome
Grollman. "We always
wondered how the minyan
fasted with the aroma of
salami, pickles, mustard and
rye bread wafting from
below."
Jewish peddlers passing
through the city attended
Hotline Gives
Lung Information
Denver, Colo. — The Na-
tional Jewish Center for
Immunology and
Respiratory Medicine in
Denver has established a
free hotline to answer ques-
tions about asthma, em-
physema and other lung dis-
orders.
Nurses at the Lung Line
provide information about
the early detection and
prevention of lung ailments
and will send free brochures
on such topics as juvenile
rheumatoid arthritis, im-
munology, eczema, exercise
and asthma, hayfever,
steroids and tuberculosis.
Where Kosher
Is Big Time
The nation's largest Jew-
ish population resides in
New York, but when it
comes to keeping kosher
there's no place like
Baltimore.
A new survey by Ira
Sheskin of the University of
Miami's department of geog-
raphy shows that 28 percent
of Baltimore's Jews keep
kosher. Second is New York
with 25 percent, and third is
Miami with 24 percent.
Other cities included in
the survey are Philadelphia
— 16 percent; Washington —
14 percent; Palm Beach —
13 percent; Kansas City —
12 percent; Chicago — 11
percent; and San Francisco
— 6 percent.
The 1989 demographic
survey of Jewish Detroit,
commissioned by the Jewish
Chabad Project
For Soldiers
New Brunswick, N.J. —
The Chabad House of New
Brunswick, which services
the community and students
at Rutgers University, is
conducting a letter-writing
campaign to Jewish soldiers
in Saudi Arabia.
Called SABRA (Send A
Bracha Overseas), the cam-
paign will mail letters once a
month to Jewish military
chaplains, to be distributed
to Jewish servicemen and
women stationed in the Gulf.
To participate, send a
letter to: SABRA, c/o
Chabad House, 8 Sicard St.,
New Brunswick, N.Y.
08901.
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11