Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

ABU NIDAL • 3ABU NIDAL (1935–2002). Sabri Khalil al Banna was born in Jaffa,Palestine, but fled with his family to Beirut in 1948. He joined alFatah after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, adopting the nom de guerreAbu Nidal, meaning “father of the struggle.” As a high-ranking memberof the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he was put incharge of its diplomatic mission in Sudan in 1970 and afterward wasappointed chief PLO representative in Iraq. After the October 1973war, he grew disillusioned with the direction of the PLO under YasirArafat’s leadership and founded his own rival group, the FatahRevolutionary Council, in 1974.Abu Nidal reputedly tried to assassinate Arafat on a number ofoccasions and therefore was put under a death sentence by the PLO.In addition to the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Abu Nidal foundedand directed other groups, such as Black June, the RevolutionaryOrganization of Socialist Muslims, and the Arab Revolutionary Brigades,which may be separate groups or merely different names forthe same group. As the organizational relationship of these groupsto one another is unclear, analysts tended to speak of an Abu NidalOrganization rather than the Fatah Revolutionary Council or itssatellite groups.Abu Nidal enjoyed the state sponsorship of Iraq from 1974 to1983, Syria from 1983 to 1987, and Libya from 1987 to 1997; after abrief limited cooperation with Egypt from 1997 to 1998, he returnedto Iraq in December 1998 where he again enjoyed state support. Afterrelocating his organization to Libya, Abu Nidal reportedly spenta year in Poland under the protection of the Polish security services.The notoriety of his terrorist actions has moved each of his sponsorsto distance themselves from him. The Iraqi government, with whichAbu Nidal had the longest-standing relationship, ordered his organizationto leave Iraq in 1983; however, during the 1990–1991 PersianGulf crisis and war, Abu Nidal’s organization was believed to havecarried out assassinations on behalf of Iraq against Arab officialscritical of Saddam Hussein, in particular, the Speaker of the EgyptianNational Assembly, killed on 12 October 1990, and also PLO officialSalah Khalaf, killed on 14 January 1991.Abu Nidal once had 200 to 300 followers, mainly in Lebanonbut also found in Syria, Libya, and Iraq. During 1983 to 1997,Abu Nidal was headquartered in Libya but moved to Egypt afterthe Qaddafi regime began to improve its relations with the United