Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 24)

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عنوان

Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 24)

المحتوى

Who Benetfitted from the TWA
Highjacking?
The mid-June highjacking of an
American civil aircraft coincided with
serious developments in Lebanon and
internationally. In Lebanon, the high-
jacking occurred at a critical time, divert-
ing the attention of the local and interna-
tional media from the massacres being
perpetrated by the Amal movement
against Palestinians in the Beirut
camps. In the international arena, the
Reagan Administration, left out in the
cold since the May 17th accord was
abrogated, grabbed the highjacking as a
badly needed pretext for resuming inter-
ference in Lebanese affairs. Reagan
also used the incident to intensify his
campaign against communism and
national liberation movements around
the world.
The story began when a group of
armed youth, believed to be followers of
Hezballah (Party of God), highjacked
the TWA plane after it took off from
Athens airport. Following a trip between
several airports, the TWA winded up in
Beirut airport which was under the con-
trol of the Amal movement. Initially the
highjackers put forward a long list of
demands including the release of the
750 Lebanese citizens abducted to ‘Is-
rael’ by the occupation troops; full and
unconditional withdrawal of all Israeli
invasion forces from all Lebanese terri-
tory; the withdrawal of Lahd’s puppet
forces from Lebanese territory. The
immediate objectives were far more
than the release of the Lebanese
detained in Atlit prison in ‘Israel’. The
demands amounted to a political man-
ifesto addressed to international public
opinion, focusing on the atrocities com-
mitted in Lebanon by ‘Israel’ and made
possible by the strategic alliance be-
tween the USA and ‘Israel’. The mes-
Sage was that the US was held responsi-
ble for all the crimes and terrorist acts
committed in the area.
The operation takes a sharp
turn .
At the time, the Amal movement
was bogged down in its war on the
Palestinians. In order to divert attention
from the besieged camps, Amal adopted
the demands of the highjackers as soon
as the TWA touched down on the Beirut
runways. Thus, it seemed to some that
Amal was undertaking a paramount
decision to confront ‘Israel’ and the
USA. Yet Amal’s real motive soon
became clear: After three days of psych-
ing up public opinion and refocusing
attention, Amal started to curtail the
demands to be met for the release of the
American hostages on board the plane.
All the demands were dropped but one:
the release of the Lebanese jailed in
Atlit prison in Israel where the Zionists have held
¢
Palestinian and Lebanese detainees illegally tranferred from Lebanon.
S es

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Democratic Palestine : 10

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