Ali Hassan Salameh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Red Prince" redirects here. "The Red Prince" was also a common nickname of the Romanian communist Scarlat Callimachi.

Ali Hassan Salameh

Ali Hassan Salameh (1943 – January 22, 1979) (Arabic: علي حسن سلامة) was the chief of operations — code name Abu Hassan - for Black September, the militant organisation responsible for the Munich Massacre (1972) and other attacks; he was also the founder of Force 17.

1 Early life and education
2 See also
3 Footnotes
4 External links

[edit] Early life and education

Salameh was born in the Palestinian town of Qula to a wealthy family. He was the son of Shaykh Hassan Salameh, who was killed fighting Israelis in 1948, North of Jaffa. He was educated in Germany and is thought to have received his military training in Cairo and Moscow.

He had a very popular appeal for Palestinian young men; his nickname underlined his popularity — the "Red Prince" flaunted his wealth, surrounded by beautiful women and driving sports cars, all while fighting Israel. In 1978, he married Georgina Rizk, a Lebanese celebrity who was Miss Universe 1971. He had children by a previous marriage.

After the Munich Massacre, 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.

Mossad assassinated Salameh in Beirut on 22 January, 1979 using a remote-controlled car bomb. Eight other people were also killed in the explosion.^[1]

According to several sources, Salameh served as a secret contact between the PLO and the CIA from 1970 until his death, guaranteeing Americans' safety in exchange for financial and political support.[1] He helped protect Americans in Beirut, and his role was to facilitate contacts between the Palestinians and Americans, in hope of obtaining American support for the Palestinians.

Ali Hassan Salameh was featured in the plot of the Steven Spielberg film Munich as one of the assassination targets. 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 [2].