Posted on 01/11/2003 9:35:24 AM PST by knighthawk
Egypt has told the United States that Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Abbas is not in the country, contrary to some media reports, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday.
Boucher said: "This is a dangerous man. I don't know the exact legal status, but certainly he's not a person that we believe should be allowed safe harbor or easy passage."
Abu Abbas, also known as Mohammed Abbas, is the leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, which hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the eastern Mediterranean in 1985. A disabled elderly American, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed during the operation.
The Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, said on Thursday that Abu Abbas arrived in Cairo on Monday night to participate in Palestinian talks on an end to attacks on civilians in Israel.
But Boucher said: "We've been told specifically by some Egyptian officials that that's not the case, but I don't know that we have a final determination for you."
The United States had told the Egyptian authorities it might want to pursue a court case against Abu Abbas if it turned out that he was in Egypt, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
An official of his Abu Abbas group said Friday he came to Egypt this week for talks with the government. "He did visit Cairo, but I can't say where he is now for his own safety," said Nazim el-Youssef of the Palestine Liberation Front in Lebanon.
The group issued a statement earlier in the week saying a delegation led by Abu Abbas had arrived in Cairo at the invitation of Egyptian authorities for talks to "unite the Palestinian groups to enable them to face Israeli aggression."
The morning of Oct 7, four members of the Palestine Liberation Front, or PLF, walked out of cabin 82, and into the main dining room, where a small number of passengers were. The majority of the passengers were off the ship in Alexandria, Egypt, on a tour of the area when the terrorists attacked. Walking into the room, they began firing their weapons at random, wounding two people before stopping. Armed with AK-47s, grenades, and handguns, the four terrorists gathered up the 320 crewmen and 80 remaining passengers, and began seperating them by nationality. The American and British hostages were placed together and surrounded with oil drums, which the terrorists threatened to light on fire. They then ordered the ships Captain to set sail for the Syrian port of Tartus.
The demands of the terrorist were simple. They wanted the release of 50 Palestinians being held by the Israeli government. Negotiations were already being held Tuesday morning. The Syrian government, after having consulted the American and Italian governments, denied the Achille Lauro permission to dock at the port in Tartus. This is when the terrorists took action.
The terrorists took Leon Klinghoffer, a 69 year old retired Jewish businessman from New York, who was confined to a wheelchair after being partially paralyzed by two strokes, and threw him overboard, after having shot him in the head and chest. The terrorists then ordered the ship to sail for the ships original destination of Port Said in Egypt, since attempts to dock in Cyprus were also met with denial.
Leon Klinghoffer's body was found several days later, when it washed up on a Syrian beach.
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