Ali Hassan Salameh

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"Red Prince" redirects here. "The Red Prince" was also a common nickname of the Romanian communist Scarlat Callimachi.

Ali Hassan Salameh
1940 - January 22, 1979
Ali Hassan Salameh' (Arabic: علي حسن سلامة, transliteration: ʿAlī Ḥasan Salāmah)
Place of birth	Qula, British Mandate of Palestine
Place of death	Beirut, Lebannon
Allegiance	PLO Black September
Years of service	1958 - 1979
Rank	Chief of operations
Battles/wars	Munich Massacre

Ali Hassan Salameh (Arabic: علي حسن سلامة, transliteration: ʿAlī Ḥasan Salāmah) (Hebrew: עלי חסן סלאמה‎) (died January 22, 1979) was the chief of operations — code name Abu Hassan - for Black September, the organization responsible for the Munich massacre (1972) and other attacks; he was also the founder of Force 17.

1 Biography
2 Death
3 In popular culture
4 See also
5 Footnotes

[edit] Biography

Salameh was born in the Palestinian town of Qula to a wealthy family. He was the son of Shaykh Hassan Salameh, who was killed fighting Israelis in 1948, north of Jaffa. He was educated in Germany and is thought to have received his military training in Cairo and Moscow.

He had a very popular appeal for Palestinian young men; his nickname underlined his popularity — the "Red Prince" flaunted his wealth, surrounded by beautiful women and driving sports cars, all while fighting Israel. In 1978, he married Georgina Rizk, a Lebanese celebrity who was Miss Universe 1971. He had children by a previous marriage {reportably to a granddaugther of Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammad Amin al-Husayni}.

After he organized the ruthless massacre of 11 Israeli civilian athletes in what is known as the Munich Massacre, he was hunted by the Israeli Mossad during Operation Wrath of God. In 1973, Mossad killed an innocent Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki in what became known as the Lillehammer affair in Norway, mistaking Bouchiki for Salameh.

Mossad assassinated Salameh in Beirut on 22 January, 1979 using a remote-controlled car bomb. Eight other people were also killed in the explosion.^[1]

According to several sources, Salameh served as a secret contact between the PLO and the CIA from 1970 until his death, guaranteeing not assassinating Americans in exchange for financial and political support.^[2] He helped protect Americans in Beirut, and his role was to facilitate contacts between the Palestinians and Americans, in hope of obtaining American support for the Palestinians.^[3]^[4]

[edit] Death

Salameh was killed on January 22, 1979 in Beirut by a car bomb planted by Israeli security forces as part of the Operation Wrath of God campaign, in response to the Munich massacre in 1972.^[5]

It is believed that Mossad recruited Erika Chambers, a British citizen, to carry out Salameh's assassination. She traveled to the Middle East with a charity supporting Palestinian refugees and arranged a meeting with Salameh in Beirut, where Salameh was being harbored by the Lebanese government. Chambers learned Salameh's daily routine and arranged for a car bomb to be planted on a street which Salameh used. As his convoy drove past, Chambers activated the explosive, killing him and four of his bodyguards. Four bystanders were also killed.^[6]

[edit] In popular culture

Ali Hassan Salameh was featured in the plot of the Steven Spielberg film Munich as one of the assassination targets. He appears as the character named Jamal Ramlawi in the spy novel Agents of Innocence by David Ignatius, a thinly disguised account of his recruitment by the CIA^[7]