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Bassam Abu Sharif | |
|---|---|
بسام أبو شريف | |
.jpg) Bassam Abu Sharif in 1989 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1946-08-09)August 9, 1946 (age 79) Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Children | Omar and Karma |
| Alma mater | American University of Beirut |
| Occupation | Former Senior Adviser toYasser Arafat |
Bassam Abu Sharif (Arabic:بسام أبو شريف; born August 9, 1946 inJerusalem) is a former senior adviser toYasser Arafat[1] and leading cadre of thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He was previously a member of thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
AMarxist and an admirer ofMao Zedong andChe Guevara, Abu Sharif, then a member of the PFLP, was dubbed the "face of terror" byTime magazine for his role in theDawson's Field hijackings in 1970, when the PFLP hijackedPan Am,Swissair, andTWA flights and blew them up in theJordanian desert, triggeringKing Hussein's expulsion of the PLO from Jordan, which became known asBlack September.[citation needed] A fourth pair of hijackers on anEl Al flight were overpowered by security guards and passengers.
Abu Sharif was born in theOld City of Jerusalem on 9 August 1946.[2] His parents were upper-middle-classSunni Muslims and had been residing inAmman, Jordan, since 1943 due to the fact that his father was working at theArab Bank.[2][3] He graduated from a secondary school inIrbid, Jordan.[2] In 1963 he began his studies at theAmerican University of Beirut and graduated from the university in 1967.[2]
Abu Sharif organized, and participated in, many actions againstIsrael. He worked as the deputy editor and then editor of theAl-Hadaf magazine which was linked to thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).[4] He lost four fingers, and was left deaf in one ear and blind in one eye, when a bomb exploded in his hands inBeirut, Lebanon, in 1972.[5] The assassination attempt was carried out byMossad who hid the explosives in the bookThe Memoirs of Che Guevara, and sent the book to Sharif.[6]
Within the PFLP, Abu Sharif gradually began to favour a reduced emphasis on armed struggle and closer cooperation withFatah, the dominantPalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) faction. As a result, he was removed from the PFLP Politburo in 1981 and was appointed to run external relations. After drawing closer to Fatah leaderYasser Arafat and meeting Egyptian PresidentHosni Mubarak, Abu Sharif was expelled from the PFLP in 1987.[3]
After leaving the PFLP in 1987, in a non-partisan role, Abu Sharif became a senior adviser to Yasser Arafat.[3] Abu Sharif was able to float some peace proposals based on atwo-state solution and preparingPalestinians for the compromises made during theOslo process. He returned toRamallah in 1996 as a presidential adviser and often wrote statements of the Palestinian position in the peace process.
In 1995, Abu Sharif co-authored the bookBest of Enemies with Uzi Mahnaimi, an Israeli Mossad journalist who previously served in theIsraeli military intelligence corps.[3] Abu Sharif also published a political memoir entitledArafat and the Dream of Palestine.[3]
Writing in the Palestinian newspaperal-Quds in April 2005, Abu Sharif called for a "popular peaceful uprising" of Palestinians through massive nonviolent resistance to prevent Israel from annexing any additional land in theWest Bank.
Abu Sharif has two children from a previous marriage.[citation needed]
In an interview onAbu Dhabi TV on April 25, 2010 (as translated byMEMRI), Abu Sharif claimed that former Israeli Prime MinisterDavid Ben-Gurion wasresponsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, due to Kennedy's policy regarding Israel'sDimona nuclear plant.[7]
Ben-Gurion gave the order to assassinate Kennedy. I take full responsibility for every word I say. The Mossad collaborated with theAmerican mafia, and onceOswald had killed Kennedy, the Mossad sent a Jew called[Jack] Ruby to kill him. Then the Mossad killed 22 witnesses, and the case was closed ... these files have not been made public, due to JewishZionist pressure.
In the same interview, Abu Sharif alleged that US PresidentBarack Obama was the target of an assassination plot byYemenite Jews:
I am warning the American agencies, like theCIA andFBI, which are fast asleep, that a plot to assassinate Obama is in motion, and that the group that will attempt to assassinate Obama consists of Yemenite Jews under the guise ofAl-Qaeda.
Abu Sharif declined to provide a source for his allegations, but stated that: "I am responsible for every word I say, and if they want to know more, they can come to me."[8]
Abu Sharif received the special medal of the Soviet Union of Journalists in 1980.[9]
Media related toBassam Abu Sharif at Wikimedia Commons