View source for Muhammad Zaidan

{{Short description|Founder and leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front (1948–2004)}}
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{{Infobox person
| name                      = Muhammad Zaidan
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| image                     =Abu Abbas pic.jpg
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| birth_name                = Muhammad Zaidan
| birth_date                = {{Birth date|df=yes|1948|12|10}}
| birth_place               = [[Yarmouk Camp]]
| death_date                = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2004|03|08|1948|12|10}}
| death_place               = Iraq?
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| resting_place             = [[Damascus]], Syria
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| nationality               =
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| other_names               = Abū-‘Abbās or Muhammad ‘Abbās
| known_for                 = Founder and Leader of [[Palestinian Liberation Front]]
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'''Muhammad Zaidan''' aka '''Muhammad Abbas''' (10 December 1948 – 8 March 2004), sometimes known as '''Abu Abbas''' ({{langx|ar|أبو عباس}} ''Abū ʿAbbās;'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑː|b|uː|_|ə|ˈ|b|ɑː|s}}{{pronunciation|En-us-Abu Abbas from Palestinian pronunciation (Voice of America).ogg}} {{respell|AH|boo|_|ə|BAHSS}}), was (with Tal'at Ya'qoub) a founder of the [[Palestinian Liberation Front]] (PLF) Organization.<ref>{{cite news|title=Oct 7, 1985: Palestinian Terrorists Hijack an Italian Cruise Ship|url=http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/this-weekend-in-maritime-history-the-achille-lauro-tragedy-operation-sealords-and-the-rise-of-the-steamboat|access-date=22 October 2012|newspaper=The Maritime Executive|date=5 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112022812/http://maritime-executive.com/article/this-weekend-in-maritime-history-the-achille-lauro-tragedy-operation-sealords-and-the-rise-of-the-steamboat|archive-date=12 November 2012|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Political background==
Zaidan was born in 1948 in Safed, Palestine,<ref name="Encyclopedia Middle East Wars">{{cite book|last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |editor-last=Roberts |editor-first=Priscilla Mary |title=The encyclopedia of Middle East wars the United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq conflicts|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, CA, US|isbn=978-1-85109-948-1|page=1}}</ref> though other sources state that he was born in a Syrian refugee camp.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1456489/Abu-Abbas.html |title=Abu Abbas |date=11 March 2004 |access-date=1 July 2011 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118071442/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1456489/Abu-Abbas.html |archive-date=18 January 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

He studied at the [[Damascus University]] where he joined the radical, pro-Syrian [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command]] (PFLP-GC) under [[Ahmed Jibril]] in 1968. In 1977, major disagreements arose between the PFLP-GC, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and other Palestinian factions based in [[Lebanon]]. Zaidan, who opposed [[Syria]]n involvement in the Lebanese war, left the PFLP-GC and created the PLF with Talaat Yaacoub, which eventually split into three separate factions (and then later re-merged). Zaidan's faction of the PLF, which was the largest of the three, moved its headquarters to [[Tunisia]].

==PLF leader==
Since its inception in 1977, the Abbas-led PLF was a member of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] and received support from both the PLO and [[Yasser Arafat]]'s [[Fatah]] movement. Unlike the PFLP-GC, the PLF has supported peace negotiations between [[Israel]] and the Palestinians. Zaidan was elected to the Executive Committee of the PLO in 1984 and represented the [[Palestinian National Council]] (PNC) in 1989 during peace negotiations with [[Israel]]. Although Zaidan was wanted by Israel for his involvement in [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] attacks against Israel (including attacks against civilians) throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Israel allowed him to travel freely in the [[Gaza Strip]] throughout the 1990s because he supported the peace negotiations. One notable attack by the PLF under Zaidan's leadership resulted in the deaths of Danny Haran (age 28) and his two daughters, Einat (4) and Yael (2) in April 1979 in their [[Nahariya]], Israel home by [[Samir Kuntar]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

==''Achille Lauro'' hijacking==
Throughout the 1980s, the PLF launched attacks on both civilian and military targets in the north of Israel, across the Lebanese border. In 1985 he masterminded the hijacking of the Italian [[cruise ship]] ''[[MS Achille Lauro|Achille Lauro]]''. During the hijacking, 69-year-old [[American Jewish]] passenger [[Leon Klinghoffer]], who used a wheelchair, was shot dead and thrown overboard. The four hijackers, fearful of United States military intervention, surrendered to [[Egypt]] in return for safe passage out of Egypt, based on the pretext that they had done no harm to any of the passengers. Four F-14 aircraft from the U.S. 6th Fleet intercepted the plane carrying the hijackers to Tunisia and escorted it to [[Sigonella]], a [[NATO]] base in Italy. There they discovered that Zaidan and PLO political officer Hassan were also on the plane. Insider deals within the Italian government made them both flown from Sigonella to Rome.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5088024,00.html |title=Italian magazine publishes Arafat's secret journals |access-date=7 February 2018 |first1=Binyamin |last1=Tobias |first2=Daniel |last2=Bettini |date=2 April 2018 |work=[[Ynet News]]}}</ref> From there, Zaidan and Hassan boarded a [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] civilian airliner bound for [[Belgrade]], [[Yugoslavia]]. Despite American requests for the extradition of Zaidan from Yugoslavia, he was not extradited because of Yugoslav relations with the PLO. He then flew to [[Aden]], [[South Yemen]] and from there to [[Baghdad]], where [[Saddam Hussein]] sheltered him from [[extradition]] to Italy. He remained in [[Iraq]] and commanded the PLF (reunited in 1989) until the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Italy sentenced Zaidan ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]'' to five terms of life imprisonment for his role in the ''Achille Lauro'' hijacking. He was also wanted in the US for crimes including [[terrorism]], [[piracy]] and [[murder]]. In 1996, he apologized for the ''Achille Lauro'' hijacking and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer and advocated peace talks between Palestinians and Israel; the apology was rejected by the US government and Klinghoffer's family.

==Death in custody==
Subsequent to the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|US invasion of Iraq]] on 20 March 2003, Zaidan was captured by American Special Forces on 14 April 2003 while he was attempting to flee from Baghdad to [[Syria]]. Italy subsequently requested his [[extradition]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} [[The Pentagon]] reported on 9 March 2004 that Zaidan had died the previous day, of [[natural causes]], while in U.S. custody. The PLF accused the Americans of assassinating their leader.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} The U.S. authorities agreed to give Abbas' body to the [[Palestine Red Crescent Society]] for burial in [[Ramallah]] on the [[West Bank]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} However, his burial there was blocked by the Israeli authorities, and he was buried in the Martyrs' Cemetery in [[Damascus]] instead.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{NYTtopic|people/a/abu_abbas|Abu Abbas}}
* [https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A730900 Achille Lauro hijacking], ''[[BBC]]'' H2G2
* [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/15/sprj.irq.abbas.arrested/index.html U.S. captures mastermind of Achille Lauro hijacking], David Ensor, ''[[CNN]]'', 16 April 2003
* [http://honestreportingcanada.net/CBC/TheWorldShouldKnow.htm The World Should Know What He Did to My Family], Smadar Haran Kaiser, ''[[Washington Post]] (mirror)'', 18 May 2003

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaidan, Muhammad}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Fugitives wanted by Iraq]]
[[Category:Hijackers]]
[[Category:MS Achille Lauro]]
[[Category:Palestinian Liberation Front members]]
[[Category:Palestine Liberation Organization members]]
[[Category:Palestinian Arab nationalists]]
[[Category:Palestinian nationalists]]
[[Category:Palestinian people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:People imprisoned on terrorism charges]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in United States military detention]]
[[Category:People convicted in absentia]]
[[Category:Palestinian people imprisoned abroad]]
[[Category:20th-century Palestinian politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Palestinian politicians]]