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Ali Hassan Salameh

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"Red Prince" redirects here. For other uses, see Red Prince (disambiguation).
Hassan Salameh redirect here. For the 1948 Palestinian commander, see Hasan Salama.
Ali Hassan Salameh
File:Alihassansalameh.jpg
Ali Hassan Salameh (Arabic: علي حسن سلامة, ʿAlī Ḥasan Salāmah)
AllegiancePLO
Black September
Years of service1958 - 1979
RankChief of operations
Battles/warsMunich Massacre

Ali Hassan Salameh (Arabic: علي حسن سلامة, ʿAlī Ḥasan Salāmah) (Hebrew: עלי חסן סלאמה) (1940 - January 22, 1979) was the chief of operations— code name Abu Hassan— for Black September, the organization responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre and other attacks. He was also the founder of Force 17. He was assassinated by Mossad in January 1979.[1]

Biography

Salameh was born in the town of Qula, Palestine, to a wealthy family. He was the son of Shaykh Hassan Salameh, who was killed in action by the Israel Defence Forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, north of Jaffa. He was educated in Germany and is thought to have received his military training in Cairo and Moscow.

He was known for flaunting his wealth, surrounded by women and driving sports cars, and had a very popular appeal among Palestinian young men; his nickname underlined his popularity — the "Red Prince.". After it was alleged that he organized what is known as the Munich Massacre during the 1972 Olympic Games, he was hunted by the Israeli Mossad during Operation Wrath of God. In 1973, Mossad killed a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki in what became known as the Lillehammer affair in Norway, mistaking Bouchiki for Salameh. As a result of the failure of Lillehammer and his alleged CIA protection, Salameh felt relatively safe, and hence didn't act like a man on the run. Having lived under cover in various parts of the Middle East and Europe, in 1978 he married Georgina Rizk, a Lebanese celebrity who had been Miss Universe seven years earlier in 1971. The couple spent their honeymoon in Hawaii and then stayed at Disney World, California. When Rizk became pregnant, she returned to her flat in Beirut, Lebanon, where Salameh also rented a separate apartment.

According to several sources, Salameh served as a secret contact between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1970 until his death, guaranteeing not to assassinate US citizens in exchange for financial and political support. However, when asked by the Israelis, the relationship was denied by US officials. [2] He helped protect US citizens in Beirut, and his role was to facilitate contacts between the Palestinians and the US, in hope of obtaining US support for the Palestinians.[3][4]

Death

It is believed[5] a Mossad agent, pseudonymously known as "Erika Chambers", a British citizen, took part in Salameh's assassination. She traveled to the Middle East with a charity supporting Palestinian refugees and arranged a meeting with Salameh in Beirut, where Salameh was being harbored by the Lebanese government. Chambers learned Salameh's daily routine.

On January 22, 1979, Salameh was in a convoy of two Chevrolet station wagons headed from Rizk's flat to his mother's for a birthday party.[6][7] Chambers was on her balcony painting, with her red Volkswagen parked below on Rue Verdun. As Salameh's convoy passed the Volkswagen at 3:35pm and turned onto Rue Madam Curie,[8] 100 kg's of explosive attached to the car by a fellow Mossad agent was remotely exploded,[9] either by Chambers or on her notification to another Mossad agent.[10]

The detonation left Salameh conscious, but wounded and in great pain, having tiny pieces of steel metal shrapnel embedded in his head and other parts of his body. He was rushed to the American University Hospital, where he died on the operating table at 4:03pm.[11] Salameh's four bodyguards were killed. Four bystanders were also killed.[10][12] Immediately following the operation, the three Mossad officers escaped without a trace, as well as up to 14 other Mossad agents believed to have been involved in the operation.[10]

  • Ali Hassan Salameh was featured in the plot of the Steven Spielberg film Munich as one of the assassination targets. He is seen twice but was not assassinated until after the events of the film.
  • He appears as the character named Jamal Ramlawi in the spy novel Agents of Innocence by David Ignatius, a thinly disguised account of his recruitment by the CIA.[13]
  • He is briefly mentioned in the Robert Ludlum novel The Janson Directive, where his alleged links to the CIA are cited as an example of shady deals the United States makes.[14]
  • Daniel Silva borrowed from the exploits of Ali Hassan Salameh and his relatives to create the background for his fictional spy novel Prince of Fire, 2005.

Bibliography

  • Bar-Zohar, Michael (1983). The Quest for The Red Prince: The Israeli Hunt for Ali Hassen Salameh the PLO leader who masterminded the Olympic Games Massacre. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-78063-8. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) which includes black and white photographic plates and which also include Yasser Arafat, together with an index.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Shalev, Noam 'The hunt for Black September', BBC News Online, 26 January 2006, accessed 14 March 2006.
  2. ^ In the end, CIA-PLO links weren't helpful November 12, 2004
  3. ^ Penetrating Terrorist Networks September 16, 2001
  4. ^ The hunt for Black September 24 January 2006
  5. ^ http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000634.html
  6. ^ University of Southhampton New Reporter, March 6, 1992, v.9, no.17, People
  7. ^ "An Eye For An Eye". CBS News. 2001-11-21. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  8. ^ John Weisman (2006-07-18). "Conspiracy Theory". Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  9. ^ Noam Shalev - Producer, Munich Operation Bayonet (2006-02-24). "The hunt for Black September". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  10. ^ a b c "Death of a Terrorist". Time Magazine. 1979-02-05. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  11. ^ One day in September By Simon Reeve
  12. ^ Shalev, Noam 'The hunt for Black September', BBC News Online, 26 January 2006, accessed 14 March 2006.
  13. ^ Agents of Inocence JSTOR, 1988
  14. ^ Ludlum, Robert, The Janson Directive, page 581 (St. Martin's Paperbacks edition October 2003), ISBN 0-312-98938-5, 2002
  • Massacre in Munich: The Manhunt for the Killers Behind the 1972 Olympics Massacre, Michael Bar Bar-Zohar, Eitan Haber ISBN 1592289452
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