Editing Abu Nidal Organization

{{Short description|1974–1997 Palestinian nationalist militant group}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Fatah Revolutionary Council|Fatah's Revolutionary Council]] within the Palestine Liberation Organization}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Expand Spanish|Fatah-RC|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox war faction
| name             = Abu Nidal Organization
| native_name      = {{lang|ar|منظمة أبو نضال|rtl=yes}}
| war              = 
| designated_as_terror_group_by = {{unbulletedlist
| {{flag|Israel}}
| {{flag|United States}}
| {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| {{flag|Canada}}
| {{flag|European Union|name=EU}}
| {{flag|Japan}}}}
| image            = Abu Nidal Organization flag.jpg
| native_name_lang = ar
| caption          = 
| active           = 1974–2002
| other_name       = Fatah – Revolutionary Council
| founding_leader  = [[Abu Nidal]]
| ideology         = [[Palestinian nationalism]]<br />[[Anti-Zionism]]<br />[[Pan-Arabism]]<ref name=":0" /><br />[[Secularism]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html |title=The Evolution of Islamic Terrorism - an Overview &#124; Target America &#124; FRONTLINE &#124; PBS |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=2018-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912020220/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html |archive-date=2017-09-12 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| position         = [[Left-wing politics|Left-wing]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=D. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rBpDinDjI8C&pg=PA414 |title=The New Terrorism: Islamist International |date=2005 |publisher=APH Publishing |isbn=978-81-7648-799-3 |pages=414 |language=en |access-date=2023-11-15 |archive-date=2023-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115210747/https://books.google.com/books?id=9rBpDinDjI8C&pg=PA414 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| clans            = 
| headquarters     = 
| area             = 
| attacks          = ''[[List of attacks attributed to Abu Nidal]]''
| status           = Defunct
| size             = 
| split_from       = [[Fatah]]
| allies           = {{unbulletedlist
| {{flagicon|Iraq|1963}} [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]]
| {{flagicon|Syria|1980}} [[Ba'athist Syria|Syria]]
| {{flagicon|Libya|1977}} [[Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|Libya]]
| {{flag|Egypt}}}}
| opponents        = {{unbulletedlist
| {{flag|Israel}}
| {{flagicon image|Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg}} [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]]}}
| url              = 
}}

The '''Abu Nidal Organization''' ('''ANO'''; {{Langx|ar|منظمة أبو نضال}} {{Transliteration|ar|Munaẓẓamat Abu Nidal}}), officially '''Fatah – Revolutionary Council''' ({{Lang|ar|فتح – المجلس الثوري|rtl=yes}} {{Transliteration|ar|Fatah al-Majles al-Thawry}}), was a [[Palestinian political violence|Palestinian militant group]] founded by [[Abu Nidal]] in 1974. It broke away from [[Fatah]], a faction within the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]], following the emergence of a rift between Abu Nidal and [[Yasser Arafat]]. The ANO was designated as a terrorist organization by [[Israel]], the [[United States]],<ref name="StateDepartment2014">{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/224829.htm |title=Chapter 6. Foreign Terrorist Organizations // Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 |year=2014 |publisher=U.S. Department of State |access-date=13 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210001226/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/224829.htm |archive-date=10 December 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[United Kingdom]],<ref name=":0">{{cite act |title=Terrorism Act 2000 |title-link=Terrorism Act 2000 |date=2000-07-20 |reporter=UK Public General Acts |volume=2000 c. 11 |chapter=Schedule 2: Proscribed Organisations |chapter-url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2 |access-date=2018-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121085241/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2 |archive-date=2013-01-21 |url-status=live }} {{Cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-04-28 |archive-date=2013-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121085241/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> [[Canada]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 December 2018 |title=Currently listed entities |url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx#2 |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=5 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005193024/https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx#2 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[European Union]]<ref name="eu2011">{{cite web |year=2011 |title=Notice for the attention of Abu Nidal Organisation 'ANO' — (a.k.a. 'Fatah Revolutionary Council', a.k.a. 'Arab Revolutionary Brigades', a.k.a. 'Black September', a.k.a. Revolutionary Organisation of Socialist Muslims included on the list provided for in Article 2(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52011XG0624(01)&rid=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214042931/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52011XG0624(01)&rid=1 |archive-date=14 December 2019 |access-date=13 December 2014 |publisher=Official Journal of the European Union}}</ref> and [[Japan]].<ref name="Japan_ban">{{Cite web |url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2002/7/0705.html |title=MOFA: Implementation of the Measures including the Freezing of Assets against Terrorists and the Like |access-date=2013-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406134416/http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2002/7/0705.html |archive-date=2013-04-06 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, a number of [[Arab world|Arab countries]] supported the group's activities; it was backed by [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] from 1974 to 1983, by [[Ba'athist Syria|Syria]] from 1983 to 1987, and by [[Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|Libya]] from 1987 to 1997. It briefly cooperated with [[Egypt]] from 1997 to 1998, but ultimately returned{{clarify|date=May 2025}} to Iraq in December 1998, where it continued to have the state's backing until Abu Nidal's death in August 2002.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sloan |first1=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVcG7EkuPgAC&pg=PA186 |title=Historical Dictionary of Terrorism |last2=Anderson |first2=Sean K. |date=2009-08-03 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6311-8 |pages=186 |language=en |access-date=2023-11-15 |archive-date=2023-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115212233/https://books.google.com/books?id=aVcG7EkuPgAC&pg=PA186 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In practice, the ANO was [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] and [[Secularism|secularist]], as well as [[Anti-Zionism|anti-Zionist]] and [[Anti-Western sentiment|anti-Western]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=D. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rBpDinDjI8C&pg=PA414 |title=The New Terrorism: Islamist International |date=2005 |publisher=APH Publishing |isbn=978-81-7648-799-3 |pages=414 |language=en |access-date=2023-11-15 |archive-date=2023-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115210747/https://books.google.com/books?id=9rBpDinDjI8C&pg=PA414 |url-status=live }}</ref> In theory, it was not particularly associated with any specific ideology—or at least no such foundation was declared.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html |title=The Evolution of Islamic Terrorism - an Overview &#124; Target America &#124; FRONTLINE &#124; PBS |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=2018-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912020220/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html |archive-date=2017-09-12 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mackenzieinstitute.com/abu-nidal-organization-ano-k-fatah-revolutionary-council-arab-revolutionary-brigades-revolutionary-organization-socialist-muslims-2/ |title=Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) - Mackenzie Institute |access-date=2018-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713072337/http://mackenzieinstitute.com/abu-nidal-organization-ano-k-fatah-revolutionary-council-arab-revolutionary-brigades-revolutionary-organization-socialist-muslims-2/ |archive-date=2018-07-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was mostly linked with the pursuit of Abu Nidal's personal agendas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mackenzieinstitute.com/terrorism-profile-abu-nidal-organization-ano/|title=Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)|website=The Mackenzie Institute|access-date=2020-11-03|archive-date=2021-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301093959/https://mackenzieinstitute.com/terrorism-profile-abu-nidal-organization-ano/|url-status=live}}</ref> The ANO was established to carry on an armed struggle in pursuit of [[pan-Arabism]] and the [[Calls for the destruction of Israel|destruction of Israel]].<ref name=":0" /> Like other Palestinian militant groups, the ANO carried out worldwide hijackings, assassinations, kidnappings of diplomats, and attacks on [[Synagogue|synagogues]]. It was responsible for 90 terrorist attacks between 1974 and 1992. In 2002, Abu Nidal died under disputed circumstances in [[Baghdad]], with Palestinian sources claiming that he was assassinated on the orders of Iraqi president [[Saddam Hussein]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/20/israel|title=Mystery death of Abu Nidal, once the world's most wanted terrorist|date=August 20, 2002|website=the Guardian|access-date=February 22, 2021|archive-date=February 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211082118/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/20/israel|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Formation and background==
{{Main|Abu Nidal}}

The Abu Nidal Organization was established by [[Abu Nidal|Sabri Khalil al-Bannah (Abu Nidal)]], known by his ''[[nom de guerre]]'' Abu Nidal, a Palestinian [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] and a former [[Ba'ath party]] member. Abu Nidal long argued that PLO membership should be open to all [[Arabs]], not just Palestinians. He also argued that Palestine must be established as an Arab state, stretching from the [[Jordan River]] in the east to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the west.<ref name=":0" /> Abu Nidal established his faction within the PLO, just prior to [[Black September]] in Jordan, and following internal disagreements within the PLO. During Fatah's Third Congress in Damascus in 1971, he emerged as the leader of a leftist alliance against [[Yasser Arafat]]. After the 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]], many members of the mainstream [[Fatah]] movement argued that a political solution with Israel should be an option. Consequently, Abu Nidal split from Fatah in 1974 and formed his "rejectionist" front to carry on a [[Pan-Arabism|Pan-Arabist]] armed struggle.<ref name=":0" /> 

Abu Nidal's first independent operation took place on September 5, 1973, when five gunmen using the name ''Al-Iqab'' ("The Punishment") seized the Saudi embassy in Paris, taking 11 hostages and threatening to blow up the building if Abu Dawud was not released from jail in Jordan, where he had been arrested in February 1973 for an attempt on [[Hussein of Jordan|King Hussein]]'s life.<ref name=Melman69>Melman 1986, p. 69.</ref> Following the incident, [[Mahmoud Abbas]] of the PLO took flight to Iraq to meet Abu Nidal. In the meeting Abbas became so angry, that he stormed out of the meeting, followed by the other PLO delegates, and from that point on, the PLO regarded Abu Nidal as a mercenary.<ref name=Seale92>Seale 1992, p. 92.</ref>

Two months later, just after the October 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]], during discussions about convening a peace conference in Geneva, the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) hijacked a KLM airliner, using the name of the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The operation was intended to send a signal to Fatah not to send representatives to any peace conference. In response, Arafat officially expelled Abu Nidal from Fatah in March 1974, and the rift between the two groups, and the two men, was complete.<ref name=Melman70>Melman 1986, p. 70.</ref> In June the same year, ANO formed the [[Rejectionist Front]], a political coalition that opposed the Ten Point Program adopted by the Palestine Liberation Organization in its 12th Palestinian National Congress session.<ref>Chakhtoura, Maria, ''La guerre des graffiti'', Beyrouth, Éditions Dar an-Nahar, 2005, page 136.</ref>

Abu Nidal then moved to [[Ba'athist Iraq]] where he set up the ANO, which soon began a string of terrorist attacks aimed at Israel and Western countries. Setting himself up as a freelance contractor, Abu Nidal is believed by the United States Department of State to have ordered attacks in 20 countries, killing or injuring over 900 people.<ref name=StateDeptprofile>[http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp/abu.htm "Abu Nidal Organization"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050207025513/http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp/abu.htm |date=February 7, 2005 }}, Country Reports on Terrorism, 2004. [[United States Department of State]], 2005.</ref> The ANO group's most notorious attacks were on the [[El Al]] ticket counters at [[Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks|Rome and Vienna]] airports in December 1985, when Arab gunmen high on amphetamines opened fire on passengers in simultaneous shootings, killing 18 and wounding 120. [[Patrick Seale]], Abu Nidal's biographer, wrote of the attacks that their "random cruelty marked them as typical Abu Nidal operations."<ref name=Seale243>Seale 1992, pp. 243–244.</ref>

==Attacks==
{{Main|List of attacks attributed to Abu Nidal}}
The ANO carried out attacks in 20 countries worldwide, killing or injuring about 1,650 people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plügge |first=Matthias |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rEW8EAAAQBAJ |title=Traces of Terrorism: A Chronicle: Contexts, Attacks, Terrorists |date=2023-04-28 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7568-5364-9 |pages=55 |language=en |access-date=2023-12-01 |archive-date=2023-12-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212195948/https://books.google.com/books?id=rEW8EAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Targets include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, moderate [[Palestinian diaspora|Palestinians]], the [[PLO]], and various [[Arab world|Arab]] and European countries. The group has not attacked Western targets since the late 1980s.

Major attacks included the [[Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks]] in December 1985, the [[Neve Shalom synagogue]] in [[Istanbul]] and the [[Pan Am Flight 73]] hijacking in [[Karachi]] in September 1986, and the ''[[City of Poros (ship)|City of Poros]]'' day-excursion ship attack in Greece in July 1988.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Suro |first1=Roberto |last2=Times |first2=Special To the New York |date=1988-02-13 |title=Palestinian Gets 30 Years for Rome Airport Attack |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/13/world/palestinian-gets-30-years-for-rome-airport-attack.html |access-date=2023-12-01 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2023-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101131800/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/13/world/palestinian-gets-30-years-for-rome-airport-attack.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The ANO has been especially noted for its uncompromising stance on negotiation with Israel, treating anything less than all-out military struggle against Israel as treachery. This led the group to perform numerous attacks against the PLO, which had made clear it accepted a negotiated solution to the conflict. Fatah-RC is believed to have assassinated PLO deputy chief [[Abu Iyad]] and PLO security chief Abul Hul in [[Tunis]] in January 1991.<ref name="FM">{{Cite book |last1=Quandt |first1=William B. |title=Scripting Middle East Leaders: The Impact of Leadership Perceptions on U.S. and UK Foreign Policy |last2=Freedman |first2=Sir Lawrence |last3=Michaels |first3=Jeffrey |date=2012-12-20 |publisher=[[A & C Black]] |isbn=978-1-4411-8572-3 |pages=101–116 |language=en |chapter=7. 'Skewed perceptions: Yasir Arafat in the eyes of American officials,1969-2004,' |author-link1=William B. Quandt |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5x5z3CRTPFgC&pg=RA1-PT78}}</ref> It assassinated a [[Jordan]]ian diplomat in [[Lebanon]] in January 1994 and has been linked to the killing of the PLO representative there. Noted PLO moderate [[Issam Sartawi]] was killed by the Fatah-RC in 1983. In October 1974, the group also made a failed assassination attempt on the present Palestinian [[President of the Palestinian National Authority|president]] and PLO chairman, [[Mahmoud Abbas]]. These attacks, and numerous others, led to the PLO issuing a death sentence ''in absentia'' against Abu Nidal. In the early 1990s, it made an attempt to gain control of a refugee camp in [[Lebanon]], but this was thwarted by PLO organizations.<ref name="Abu Nidal - Telegraph">{{cite news |last=Archer |first=Graeme |title=Abu Nidal |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/08/20/db2001.xml |url-status=dead |access-date=May 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020921212428/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/08/20/db2001.xml |archive-date=September 21, 2002}}</ref>

==Internal executions and torture==
{{Main||Abu Nidal Organization internal executions}}
The ANO's official newspaper ''Filastin al-Thawra'' regularly carried stories announcing the execution of traitors within the movement.<ref name=AbuKhalil>Abu Khalil, 2000.</ref> Each new recruit of the ANO was given several days to write down his life story and sign a paper agreeing to his execution if anything was found to be untrue. Every so often, the recruit would be asked to rewrite the whole story. Any discrepancies were taken as evidence that he was a spy and he would be made to write it out again, often after days of being beaten and nights spent forced to sleep standing up.<ref name=Seale6>Seale 1992, pp. 6&ndash;7.</ref>

British journalist [[Alec Collett]] was killed by the ANO in [[Aita al-Foukhar|Aita al-Foukhar (village in Lebanon)]] in 1986. He was hanged on a rope and was shot in retaliation to US air raids on Libya.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lebanon remains may be those of British journalist Alec Collett {{!}} Media {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/nov/19/journalist-body-lebanon-alec-collett |access-date=2024-06-22 |website=amp.theguardian.com|date=19 November 2009 }}</ref> 

By 1987, Abu Nidal used extreme torture tactics on members of the ANO who were suspected of betrayal and disloyalty.<ref name=Seale1992p287/> The tactics included hanging prisoners naked, whipping them until unconsciousness, using salt or chili powder to revive them, forcing them into a car tire for whipping and salt application, melting plastic on their skin, frying their genitals, and confining them in tiny cells bound hand and foot. If cells were full, prisoners could be buried alive with a steel pipe for breathing. Execution was carried out by firing a bullet down the pipe.<ref name=Ledeen>Clarridge 1997, cited in Ledeen 2002.
*Also see Seale 1992, pp. 286&ndash;287.</ref> 

From 1987 to 1988, hundreds of members of Abu Nidal's organization were killed due to internal paranoia and terror tactics. The elderly wife of a veteran member was also killed on false charges. The killings were mostly carried out by four individuals: Mustafa Ibrahim Sanduqa, Isam Maraqa, Sulaiman Samrin, and Mustafa Awad. Decisions to kill were mostly made by Abu Nidal after he had consumed a whole bottle of whiskey at night.<ref name=Seale1992p287>Seale 1992, pp. 287&ndash;289.</ref> According to ANO dissidents, the attacks made by the group were unconnected to the Palestinian cause and led to their defection. In addition, they claimed the guerrilla was the "living example of paranoia".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/terror/abunidal/abunidal061090.htm|title=Abu Nidal Battles Dissidents|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=2023-02-10|archive-date=2014-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018005502/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/terror/abunidal/abunidal061090.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Abu Nidal]]
*[[Arab People's Movement]]
*[[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]]
*[[Olivia Frank]]
*[[List of military units named after people]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
*{{cite book |title=The Master Terrorist: The True Story of Abu-Nidal |first=Yossi |last=Melman |date=1986 |publisher=University of Michigan |isbn=9780915361526 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqmWvwEACAAJ}}
*{{cite book |title=Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire |first=Patrick |last=Seale |publisher=Hutchinson |date=1992 |isbn=9780091753276 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwPmAAAAIAAJ}}

==Further reading==
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2203099.stm Abu Nidal: Ruthless maverick]
{{Fatah}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Abu Nidal]]
[[Category:Anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine]]
[[Category:Arab nationalist militant groups]]
[[Category:Fatah breakaway groups]]
[[Category:Palestinian terrorism in Europe]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by Japan]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by the European Union]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist]]
[[Category:Palestinian militant groups]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Canada]]