Editing Abu Nidal (section)

==Political life==
===Impex, Black September===
[[File:Hussein of Jordan 1997.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=photograph|[[Hussein of Jordan|King Hussein]] of Jordan in 1997]]

In Saudi Arabia, Abu Nidal helped found a small group of young Palestinians who called themselves the Palestine Secret Organization. The activism cost him his job and home: Aramco fired him, and the Saudi government imprisoned, then expelled him in 1967.<ref name=Hudson1999p100>{{harvnb|Hudson|1999|p=100}}</ref> He returned to Nablus with his wife and family, and joined Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO. Working as an odd-job man, he was committed to Palestinian politics but was not particularly active until Israel won the 1967 [[Six-Day War]], capturing the [[Golan Heights]], the [[West Bank]], and the [[Gaza Strip]]. Melman writes that "the entrance of the Israel Defense Forces tanks into Nablus was a traumatic experience for him. The conquest aroused him to action."<ref>{{harvnb|Melman|1987|p=52}}</ref>

After moving to [[Amman]], Jordan, he set up a trading company called Impex, which acted as a front for Fatah and served as a meeting place and conduit for funds. This became a hallmark of Abu Nidal's career. ANO-controlled companies controlled made him a rich man by through legitimate business, and functioned as cover for arms deals and mercenary activities.<ref name=Seale1992p69>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=69}}</ref>

[[File:King Hussein 1970.ogv|thumb|alt=video|1970 Echo newsreel about the situation in Jordan]]
When Fatah asked him to choose a ''[[Pseudonym|nom de guerre]]'', he chose Abu Nidal ("father of struggle") after his son, Nidal.<ref name=AbuKhalil2005/> Those who knew him at the time said he was a well-organized leader, not a guerrilla; during fighting between the [[Palestinian fedayeen]]s and King Hussein's troops, he stayed in his office.<ref>{{harvnb|Melman|1987|p=513}}; {{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=70}}</ref> In 1968, Abu Iyad appointed him as the Fatah representative in [[Khartoum]], Sudan. Later, at Abu Nidal's insistence, he was appointed to the same position in Baghdad in July 1970. He arrived two months before "[[Black September]]", when more than 10 days of fighting King Hussein's army drove the Palestinian [[fedayeen]]s out of Jordan, with the loss of thousands of lives. Abu Nidal's absence from Jordan at a time, Seale writes, when it was clear that King Hussein was about to act against the Palestinians, raised suspicion within the movement that Abu Nidal was interested only in saving himself.<ref name=Seale1992p78>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=78}}</ref>

===First operation===
Shortly after Black September, Abu Nidal began accusing the PLO, over his Voice of Palestine<!--note: this is not the same as [[Voice of Palestine]]--> radio station in Iraq, of cowardice for having agreed to a ceasefire with Hussein.<ref name=Seale1992p78/> During Fatah's Third Congress in Damascus in 1971, he joined Palestinian activist and writer Naji Allush and [[Abu Daoud]] (leader of the [[Black September Organization]] responsible for the 1972 [[Munich massacre|Munich Massacre]]) in calling for greater democracy within Fatah and revenge against King Hussein.<ref>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=85–87}}</ref>

[[File:Mahmoud Abbas September 2014.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=photograph|[[Mahmoud Abbas]], [[President of the Palestinian Authority]], in 2014]]
In February 1973, Abu Daoud was arrested in Jordan for an attempt on King Hussein's life. This led to Abu Nidal's first operation, using the name {{Transliteration|ar|Al-Iqab}} ("the Punishment"). On 5 September 1973, five gunmen entered the Saudi embassy in Paris, took 15 hostages, and threatened to blow up the building if Abu Daoud was not released.<ref>{{harvnb|Melman|1987|p=69}}; {{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=92}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Kamm, Henry |date=6 September 1973 |title=Gunmen Hold 15 Hostages In Saudi Embassy in Paris |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/06/archives/gunmen-hold-15-hostages-in-saudi-embassy-in-paris-apologize-to.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905123207/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/06/archives/gunmen-hold-15-hostages-in-saudi-embassy-in-paris-apologize-to.html |archive-date=2022-09-05 |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The gunmen flew to Kuwait two days later on a [[Syrian Air]] flight, still holding five hostages, then to Riyadh, threatening to throw the hostages out of the aircraft. They surrendered and released the hostages on 8 September.<ref name=Seale1992p91/><ref>{{cite web |author=Kamm, Henry |date=7 September 1973 |title=Commandos leave Embassy in Paris |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/07/archives/commandos-leave-embassy-in-paris.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708183625/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/07/archives/commandos-leave-embassy-in-paris.html |archive-date=2024-07-08 |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Abu Daoud was released from prison two weeks later; Seale writes that the Kuwaiti government paid King Hussein $12 million for his release.<ref name=Seale1992p91>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=91}}</ref>

On the day of the attack, 56 heads of state were meeting in [[Algiers]] for the fourth [[Non-Aligned Movement]] conference. According to Seale, the Saudi Embassy operation had been commissioned by Iraq's president, [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr|Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr]], as a distraction because he was jealous that Algeria was hosting the conference. One of the hostage-takers admitted that he had been told to fly the hostages around until the conference was over.<ref name=Seale1992p92/>

Abu Nidal had carried out the operation without Fatah's permission.<ref>{{harvnb|Melman|1987|p=69}}</ref> [[Salah Khalaf|Abu Iyad]] (Arafat's deputy) and [[Mahmoud Abbas]] (later [[President of the Palestinian National Authority|President of the Palestinian Authority]]), flew to Iraq to reason with Abu Nidal and explain that hostage-taking harmed the movement. Abu Iyad told Seale that an Iraqi official at the meeting said, "Why are you attacking Abu Nidal? The operation was ours! We asked him to mount it for us." Abbas was furious and left the meeting with the other PLO delegates. From that point on, the PLO regarded Abu Nidal as under the control of the Iraqi government.<ref name=Seale1992p92>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=92}}</ref>

===Expulsion from Fatah===
Two months later, in November 1973 (just after the [[Yom Kippur War]] in October), the ANO hijacked [[KLM Flight 861]], this time using the name Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. Fatah had been discussing convening a peace conference in Geneva and the hijacking was intended to warn them not to go ahead with it. In response, in March or July 1974, Arafat expelled Abu Nidal from Fatah.<ref>{{harvnb|Melman|1987|p=70}}; {{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=97–98}} (Melman writes that it was March 1974, Seale that it was July).</ref>

In October 1974, Abu Nidal formed the ANO, calling it Fatah: The Revolutionary Council.<ref name=Seale1992p99/> In November that year, a Fatah court sentenced him to death ''in absentia'' for the attempted assassination of Mahmoud Abbas.<ref>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=98}}</ref> It is unlikely that Abu Nidal had intended to kill Abbas, and just as unlikely that Fatah wanted to kill Abu Nidal. He was invited to Beirut to discuss the death sentence, and was allowed to leave again, but it was clear that he had become ''persona non grata''.<ref name=Seale1992p99>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=99}}</ref> As a result, the Iraqis gave him Fatah's assets in Iraq, including a training camp, farm, newspaper, radio station, passports, overseas scholarships, and $15 million worth of Chinese weapons. He also received Iraq's regular aid to the PLO: around $150,000 a month and a lump sum of $3–5 million.<ref>{{harvnb|Seale|1992|p=100}}</ref>