17 Facts About Atef Bseiso

Atef Bseiso was the Palestine Liberation Organization's liaison officer with foreign intelligence agencies.

The PLO denied Bseiso had any connection to the Munich operation.

Atef Bseiso's death was seen at the time as damaging PLO attempts to strengthen their credentials by sharing intelligence information with Western countries on terrorist operations hostile to Western interests.

Atef Bseiso hailed from one of the largest and most respected Palestinian clans in the Gaza Strip.

Robert Baer, a CIA field officer who sought via French contacts to handle Atef Bseiso, remained agnostic on the question.

Atef Bseiso had been appointed the PLO's liaison man with the CIA, but had contacts within German intelligence and France's Direction de la surveillance du territoire.

The primary purpose of Atef Bseiso's visit to Paris was to discuss with French police arrangements for the security of PLO members in that country.

Atef Bseiso realized he was being tracked after noticing a suspicious figure in his hotel lobby and requested protection from the French, who replied that none was available until the following morning.

Atef Bseiso intended, on finishing business in Paris, to drive down to Marseilles, and ferry back to Tunis, and surprise his wife Dima and their three children with the new car.

Atef Bseiso was the 6th PLO leader to be assassinated in France, the others being Mahmoud Hamshari, Basil Al Kubaisi, Ezzedine Kalak, Zouheir Mohsen and Fadl Dani.

The operation to kill Atef Bseiso was directed by Shabtai Shavit from a safe house in the 11th Arrondissement of Paris.

Shavit was convinced Bseiso was implicated in the Munich attack, and Aaron J Klein's account endorses this theory, as does John Macintyre in reviewing Klein, though he adds that many Palestinians assassinated for involvement in the Munich massacre were not directly linked to it.

The CIA agent Robert Baer, one of the officials Atef Bseiso was to meet the following day, stated that one primary reason for Mossad's killing of Atef Bseiso was to block the growing international recognition of the PLO arising in part from the organization's links with key Western intelligence agencies.

The operation to assassinate him relied on key details concerning Atef Bseiso's movements supplied to a Mossad agent, posing as an Iranian government official, by Adnan Yassin in exchange for money.

General Uri Sagi, head of Israel's military intelligence claimed that Atef Bseiso had been involved in both the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, a failed attempt on the life of the Jordanian ambassador to London, and an abortive attack on an El Al plane in 1978, adding he did not know who was responsible.

Atef Bseiso was not executed but sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Four years later, his participation caused a media furore when it was cited as evidence for suspicions Corbyn was friendly with terrorists, with claims being made by Benjamin Netanyahu and others that Atef Bseiso had been involved in the Munich Massacre.