View source for El Al Flight 426 hijacking

{{Short description|Passenger flight hijacked in 1968}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox Aircraft crash
| name            = El Al Flight 426
| image           = 4X-ATA B707-458 El Al LHR 02SEP63 (6052451212).jpg
| image_upright   = 1.15
| caption         = 4X-ATA, the aircraft involved in the hijacking
| date            = {{start date|1968|07|23|df=y}}
| site            = 
| type            = [[Aircraft hijacking|Hijacking]]
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| occupants       = 48
| passengers      = 38 (Including 3 hijackers)
| crew            = 10
| fatalities      = 0
| survivors       = 48 (Including 3 hijackers)
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 707]]–458
| operator        = [[El Al]]
| origin          = [[London Heathrow Airport]]
| stopover        = [[Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport|Rome Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport]]
| destination     = [[Ben Gurion International Airport|Lod Airport (renamed Ben Gurion International Airport)]]
| tail_number     = 4X-ATA
}}
{{Campaignbox Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon}}

'''El Al Flight 426''' was an [[El Al]] passenger flight hijacked on 23 July 1968 by three members of the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP), setting off a wave of [[aircraft hijacking|hijackings]] by the PFLP.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942267-2,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041701/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942267-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 September 2007 |url-access=subscription |title=Drama of the Desert: The Week of the Hostages |publisher=Time.com |date=21 September 1970 |access-date=2014-07-18}}</ref>

Scholars of [[political science]] and [[terrorism studies]] have characterized the hijacking of the El Al Flight 426 as significant in the advent of modern international [[Terrorism|air terrorism]].<ref name="Porat 2022">{{cite journal |author-last=Porat |author-first=Dan |date=June 2022 |title=The Hijacking of El Al Flight 426: The Advent of Air Terrorism |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Richard J. |editor1-link=Richard J. Evans |editor2-last=Neuburger |editor2-first=Mary C. |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=1072–1088 |doi=10.1177/00220094221107501 |issn=1461-7250 |lccn=66009877 |s2cid=250126489}}</ref> According to [[David C. Rapoport]], Professor Emeritus of Political Science at [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA), the modern wave of [[left-wing terrorism]] began with the hijacking of the El Al Flight 426 in the context of the [[Protests of 1968|political unrest of 1968]].<ref name="Porat 2024">{{cite journal |author-last=Porat |author-first=Dan |date=August 2024 |title=Dual Narratives of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict in Court: Shaping the Perception of International Terrorism |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Richard J. |editor1-link=Richard J. Evans |editor2-last=Neuburger |editor2-first=Mary C. |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=576–596 |doi=10.1177/0022009424126 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |doi-access=free |issn=1461-7250 |lccn=66009877 |s2cid=271824536}}</ref>

==Overview==
The aircraft, a [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707-458]], was scheduled to fly from [[Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport]] in Rome to Lod Airport, now known as [[Ben Gurion International Airport]]. The plane was diverted to [[Algiers]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838492,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112154233/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838492,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 January 2008 |url-access=subscription |title=Skyway Robbery |publisher=Time.com |date=2 August 1968 |access-date=2014-07-18}}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080726184205/http://www.emergency-management.net/airterror_hijack.htm Emergency Management Net Hijack list]}}</ref>

After the aircraft departed Rome, the pilots requested coffee from the cabin crew. As the coffee was being brought up to the pilots, two of the hijackers forced their way through the door to the [[cockpit|flight deck]], one of them clubbed the [[flight engineer]] with the butt of his pistol and ordered the plane to fly to Algiers. The remaining hijacker threatened the passengers with a pistol and an unpinned hand grenade.

When the plane landed at [[Houari Boumediene Airport|Dar El Beida]], Algerian authorities grounded the plane. The following day they sent all non-Israeli passengers to France on [[Air Algérie]] [[Sud Aviation Caravelle|Caravelle]] jets. Ten women and children were released over the weekend. The remaining 12 Israeli passengers, and the crew of 10 were held as hostages for the remainder of the hijacking.
The hijackers were identified as members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They were equipped with Iranian and Indian passports. The hijackers were carefully chosen by the PFLP because of their occupations (a pilot, an army officer, and a karate teacher).

The Israeli and Algerian governments negotiated the return of the hostages and plane through diplomatic channels. Five weeks later, everyone was released in exchange for 16 convicted Arab prisoners.<ref name="autogenerated1"/>  According to the [[BBC]], lasting 40 days, it was the longest hijacking of a commercial flight.<ref name=HistoryHijackings>{{cite news|title=History of airliner hijackings|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1578183.stm|access-date=8 December 2015|publisher=BBC|date=3 October 2001}}</ref>

Pilot Oded Abarbanell later wrote a memoir of his experience during the hijacking.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://odedabarbanell.wordpress.com/category/hijacking-to-algiers/|title = Hijacking to Algiers}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-this-day-the-first-and-only-el-al-hijacking-1.5298481|title=This Day in Jewish History / The First and Only el al Hijacking|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Aviation|Israel|Algeria|1960s}}
*[[List of aircraft hijackings]]
*[[Airport security]]
*[[Lufthansa Flight 181]]
*[[Operation Entebbe]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1968}}
{{Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 1960s}}
{{Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1960s}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Algeria}}

[[Category:1968 in international relations]]
[[Category:El Al accidents and incidents]]
[[Category:1968 crimes in Israel]]
[[Category:Palestinian terrorist incidents in Italy]]
[[Category:Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacks]]
[[Category:Attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1968]]
[[Category:July 1968 events in Europe]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Italy in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1968]]
[[Category:1968 crimes in Italy]]
[[Category:1968 crimes in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707]]
[[Category:Aircraft hijackings in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1968 crimes in Algeria]]
[[Category:Palestinian terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Cold War history of Algeria]]
[[Category:Algeria–State of Palestine relations]]
[[Category:Algeria–Israel relations]]
[[Category:Hijackings in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1968]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Algeria]]
[[Category:1960s in Algiers]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Algiers]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Algeria in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Israel in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Hostage taking in Algeria]]


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