Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 31, 1990 TAG: 9005310053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NIZZANIM, ISRAEL LENGTH: Medium
The Palestine Liberation Front claimed responsibility. It claimed all the boats reached their targets and that 11 guerrillas escaped and rocketed the coast at Tel Aviv and nearby towns.
The group said the attacks were in retaliation for the killing of seven Palestinians by an Israeli civilian last week, and for the assassination of a Palestinian military leader two years ago.
The Israeli army said the guerrillas planned to attack beachfront hotels filled with people.
The six speedboats were sent from a ship that sailed from Libya, the army alleged.
Of the six guerrilla vessels, only two got near shore, authorities said.
No Israelis were killed or injured, the army said, although one speedboat outran an Israeli patrol boat and splashed ashore near a crowded Mediterranean beach club.
One boat carrying 11 Palestinians was attacked by helicopters and troops as it sliced into an almost empty beach near Nizzanim, 18 miles south of Tel Aviv. Four guerrillas were killed there and seven captured, the army said.
Five other guerrillas surrendered aboard another boat that was intercepted near a beach north of Tel Aviv. The other vessels broke down or were abandoned at sea, the army said.
Zvi Amitai, a resident of the Nizzanim communal farm, said he was collecting driftwood when he saw the speedboat and heard gunfire. The guerrillas landed 20 yards from him.
"They jumped from the boat and didn't shoot, as if they didn't see us," he said. "They just ran for the dunes. I certainly feel like I won the lottery."
Army intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amnon Shahak told a news conference: "The goal was to attack the hotels in the Tel Aviv region to conduct a massacre."
It was unclear whether the attack was endorsed by PLO chief Yasser Arafat, who pledged in December 1988 to abandon terrorism.
The faction that claimed responsibility, the Palestine Liberation Front, is a pro-Arafat faction. Its leader is Mohammed Abbas, also known as Abul Abbas. An Italian court convicted him of masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, during which an American was killed.
Abbas was sentenced to life in prison, but his whereabouts is not known.
The attack prompted calls by the Israeli government and the Anti-Defamation League for a suspension of the U.S.-PLO dialogue, which began in December 1988 in the waning days of the Reagan administration.
State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler was asked in Washington whether the United States would suspend its dialogue with the PLO if a faction of the organization were found to be responsible. "Our policy has not changed, but I do not want to . . . rule anything in or anything out," she said.
In Baghdad, Palestine Liberation Front representative Hussein el-Abed said the attack was aimed at "teaching the enemy a new lesson on the road to liberating Palestine."
He said the attack was in revenge for the killing of PLO military chief Khalil Al-Wazir, whose death in Tunis in April 1988 was widely blamed on Israel.
The front, in statements issued in Lebanon and Iraq, said the raid also was in retaliation for the killing of seven Palestinians by an Israeli civilian last week.
by CNB