Dear Must65,
After an extensive research, which included sources in Arabic, I must
answer that the almost-unanimous opinion is that the Black September
organization has assassinated Al-Tal. Actually, the only claims to
conspiracy I found referred to the "Illuminati" (Western based
conspiracy theory, see
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/6583/secret017.html). I
must say that that surprised me a little, because from my acquaintance
with the Arabic press, there's nothing they like more than conspiracy
theories.
Wasfi Al-Tal was assassinated in 28 November 1971, on the stairs of
the Cairo Sheraton. Al-Tal was shot on broad daylight, so there was no
doubt on who were the four assassins. Al Tal "was gunned down as he
entered the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo. While Tal lay dying,
one of the assassins knelt and lapped with his tongue the blood
flowing across the marble floor. That grisly scene, reported in The
Times of London and other major newspapers..."
<http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/12/hoffman.htm>
There were four assassins, all of whom were arrested. The Egyptian
government released the four in January 1973.
Evidences that they were members of Black September:
(1) Horse's Mouth: Abu Daoud was one of the founders of Black
September. In his book "PALESTINE: De Jerusalem à Munich", or in
English "Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist"
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559704292/ltc-political) he
describes how another founder of the organisation, Abu Iyad, planned
the assassination (*before* the organization was officially
established). <See about this
http://past.thenation.com/cgi-bin/framizer.cgi?url=http://past.thenation.com/issue/000103/0103young.shtml>
(2) Horse's Mouth 2 - responsibility claim by the organization: "Black
September, a Palestinian organization formed after the civil war
between the PLO and Jordan in September 1970, claims responsibility
for the assassination of Wasfi al-Tal, Jordan’s Prime Minister"
<http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/timelines/timelinepales.html>
The killer also apparently shouted that they belong to the
organization at the scene (see source 4)
(3) press information: "Four of its members assassinated Wasfi al-Tal,
Jordan's prime minister and the enemy of the Palestinians, on the
steps of the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo. Tal's last words were: "They've
killed me. Murderers, they believe only in fire and destruction."
<Uriya Shavit, Haaretz Newspaper, May 28, 2002>
(4) Press II: "On 28 November 1971, an organization which was to leave
an indelible mark on the history of political terror and the modern
Middle East committed its first murder. Four armed Palestinians,
operating in broad daylight and without the benefit of masks, shot
dead the Jordanian Prime Minister, Wash Tel, as he returned to Cairo’s
Sheraton Hotel from an Arab League meeting. The assassination itself
was followed by a gruesome ritual as one of the killers knelt down,
lapped up and drank some of Tel’s flowing blood and shouted several
times that he and his accomplices belonged to Black September. "
<Cedar Land, a Lebanese Site
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Parliament/2587/black.html>
Black September was a Palestinian terrorist organisation. The
assassination of Al-Tal was the first of actions, which also included
attempt on the life of the Jordanian Ambassador to London; Attacks
against German and Dutch oil plants, and most notoriously, the murder
of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic games. Black September was
named so, after the events of September 1970 in Jordan, 70% of whose
population is Palestinian. This month was the culmination of 10 month
of Palestinian rebellion in to overthrow the Hashamite monarchy. In
1970, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) faction hijacked
three passenger planes and took them to airfields in Jordan; after the
planes were emptied, the hijackers blew them up. This was one of a
series of terrorist attacks that came out of Jordan or used Jordan as
a base, but this one became a Casus Beli for King Hussein to eject the
PLO from the kingdom.
Al-Tal, a hardliner, was appointed PM and Minister of Defence by King
Hussein to deal with the Palestinian revolt in the Refugee Camps,
which deteriorated into a civil war. Therefore, he was considered as
mastermind of the expulsion of Palestinian Fatah members out of
Jordan.
More information on Black September
http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/september.html (A nationalist
pro-Israeli site, but the article is quoted from Ha'aretz, a balanced
and respectable newspaper).
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Parliament/2587/black.html (Cedar
Land, a Lebanese Site)
http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/blacksept1970.htm
Books/articles on Al-Tal
Susser, Asher. 1994. On both banks of the Jordan: A political
biography of Wasfi al-Tal.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0714645427/ltc-political
Allush, Naji. 1972. Al-mumarisat al-siyasiyya li-wasfi al-tal. [The
political practices of Wasfi al- Tal] Shu’un Filastiniyya 7: 177–189.
(In Arabic)
My search strategy: Wasfi al-Tal in various spelling options (such as
Wasfi Tel
Wasfi al-Tal, Wasfi At-tal (the other "t" comes instead of "l" because
of hyphens in Arabic grammer), etc.) and also in Arabic (using Google
language tools).
I think that answered your question. However, if you need any
clarifications, don't hesitate to ask. I would be happy to answer any
clarification before you rate the question. Good Luck and thanks for
an interesting question! |
