Arafat ‘escapes killing bid’
NZPA London Arab assassins tried to kill Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, in Beirut just before his visit last week to Athens, the “Observer” reported yesterday. Gunmen tracked him down to one of the P.L.O. “safe houses” and opened fire with automatic weapons, the newspaper said. The Palestinians kept the affair quiet, but a P.L.O. broadcast from Beirut the next day said Arafat’s bodyguard had been killed, although a spokesman later said he had died in a traffic shoot-out.
P.L.O. leaders are strongly guarded and take care to sleep in a different place every night, according to the “Observer.” Arafat had been at risk for some time because of bitter quarrels in the Palestine movements over the Middle East peace plan put forwardby Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia. ‘Arafat had given his support to the Fahd plan, but within the P.L.O. and its allied organisations there is strong opposition to it. This hqd resulted in challenges to his position as chairman from within the executive committee.
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Press, 21 December 1981, Page 8
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174Arafat ‘escapes killing bid’ Press, 21 December 1981, Page 8
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