Ali Hassan Salameh

Ali Hassan Salameh (Arabic: علي حسن سلامة‎, ʿAlī Ḥasan Salāmah) (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 Palestinian town of Qula during the British mandate, 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 an innocent Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, in what became known as the Lillehammer affair in Norway, mistaking Bouchiki for Salameh, and resulting in the arrest of some of the Israeli agents.

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 Disneyland, California. When Rizk became pregnant, she returned to her flat in Beirut, Lebanon, where Salameh also rented a separate apartment. By a prior marriage he was a grandson-in-law of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni

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 travelled 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 Madame Curie,^[8] 100 kg 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 severely wounded and in great pain, having pieces of steel shrapnel embedded in his head and throughout 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.^[1][10] 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]

In popular culture

• 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.^[12]
• 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.^[13]
• 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.
• Ali Hassan Salameh is repeatedly referenced in the book By Way of Deception by Victor Ostrovsky in his account of his own recruitment and training to become an officer in Mossad.

Bibliography

• Bar-Zohar, Michael; Eitan Haber (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.  which includes black-and-white photographic plates and which also include Yasser Arafat, together with an index.

See also

• Yuval Aviv
• Yasser Arafat

Footnotes

• Massacre in Munich: The Manhunt for the Killers Behind the 1972 Olympics Massacre, Michael Bar Bar-Zohar, Eitan Haber ISBN 1-59228-945-2