Sabri al-Banna
a/k/a Abu Nidal (" father of struggle" in Arabic),
Amin al-Sirr, Sabri Khalil Abd Al Qadir and numerous aliases
Sabri al-Banna was born in Jaffa, under British-mandate Palestine, in 1937,
to a wealthy citrus planter. He was the only child of a second marriage, and
the youngest of 12. After his father's death and his mother's removal from the
house when he was 8, his childhood was neglected, he left school after third
grade, then fatally disrupted after the creation of Israel in 1948 and the family's
expulsion.
He spent the next several years in refugee camps and joined the Ba'ath party of Jordan. After the suppression of the Ba'aths, he moved to Saudi Arabia, where he build a successful contracting business and became a member of the Yasser Arafat's Al Fatah, a secret cell of the main Palestinian Liberation Organization.
He married Hiyam al-Bitar and had three children: a son, Nidal, and two daughters, Badia and Bissam.
In Al Fatah, he rose rapidly, becoming their spokesman in Sudan in 1969 and for Iraq in 1970. In 1974, after criticizing Al Fatah for accommodation with Israel in establishing a separate Palestinian state, he was expelled and founded his own organization.
The Abu Nidal Group, also known as the
Fatah Revolutionary Council, Arab
Revolutionary Brigades, Black September, and Revolutionary Organization of Socialist
Muslims, was responsible for attacks that killed nearly 300 and injured over
600 people in 20 countries. For details of these attacks, see Abu
Nidal Organization
Banna was variously sponsored by Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and also funded his operations with arms sales and other commercial enterprises that made him an extremely wealthy man. His operations killed equal numbers of Israelis and Palestinians, and in many cases the outcome of operations supported Israeli goals at the expense of the Palestinians. His favorite targets were airlines, random civilians, and his own colleagues.
Over twenty years of increasingly nihilistic violence, Banna was the most feared terrorist in the world.
He was forced to go underground after his own state sponsors and the larger Palestinian movements all found him too unpredictable and too great a liability. He suffered from heart problems and leukemia and as he aged grew increasingly paranoid.
He was shot dead in his apartment in Iraq on August 17, 2002. The details of his death remain murky but include allegations that he shot himself in the mouth (four times) because he was dying of cancer and addicted to painkillers and because the Iraqi secret service was preparing to interrogate him. Alternately, he may have been killed by the Iraqi authorities. It has also been suggested that Palestinian groups might have helped. It has also been pointed out that as an exercise in verifying US accusations that Iraq harbors terrorists prior to an attack, forces favoring a US invasion could also have been involved.
In the end, Banna died as he had lived much of his life: with chaos, secrecy and violence.
Bibliography
Alexander, Yonah. Middle East terrorism:
selected group profiles. Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs, 1994.
Blaisse, Mark. Aboe Nidal bestaat niet: de mythe en de media. Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, (Grote ABC), 1989
Economist. Abu Nidal Obituary. The Economist, August 24, 2002
Melman, Yossi. Abu Nidal: deyokno shel irgun teror. Hadar, 1984.
Melman, Yossi. The master terrorist:
the true story of Abu-Nidal. (Translated by
Shmuel Himmelstein). Adama Books, 1986.
Schemann, Serge. Abu Nidal, Palestinian Terrorist Leader, Is reported Dead. in The New York Times, August 20, 2002
United States. Department Of State, Office
Of The Secretary Of
State. Ambassador-at-Large For Counter-Terrorism. Abu Nidal
Organization. Fact Sheet, 1989.
United States. Department Of State, Office
Of The Secretary Of
State. Coordinator For Counter-Terrorism. Samir Muhammad
Khadar: Abu Nidal's most notorious terrorist organizer. Fact Sheet, 1989.
Links
BBC News
In pictures: Abu Nidal's career of terror
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2207311.stm
Butt, Gerald.
BBC News
Abu Nidal: Ruthless Maverick
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/2203099.stm
Hirst, David
The Guardian
Abu Nidal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4484907,00.html
Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians:
Biography Of Abu Nidal- Sabri al-Bana
http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jaffa/Jaffa/Story163.html
Fisk, Robert
The Independent
Abu Nidal killed by Iraqi assassins, insist supporters
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?dir=75&story=326502&
Gun for hire who has already died at least twice
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?dir=75&story=325986&
MacAskill, Ewen and Richard Nelsson
The Guardian
Mystery Death of Abu Nidal, Once the World's Most Wated Terrorist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4484897,00.html
Reeves, Phil
The Independent
Mystery surrounds 'suicide' of Abu Nidal, once a ruthless killer and face of
terror
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?dir=75&story=325987&
Steiner, Susie.
The Guardian
Profile: Abu Nidal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4484802,00.html
Also See
Newsletter August 25, 2002. Feature Article: Part 1 of 2, Excerpt from "The Human Faces of Terror
PUBLICATION DATE:
December 2001
DATE:
2001120