French victims of Abu Nidal angry he never paid for his crimes
Mon Aug 19, 3:45 PM ET
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - The death of Abu Nidal brought frustration rather than relief to French victims of attacks blamed on him, including an attack on a Paris restaurant and an assault on a Greek ferry.
Abu Nidal, who Palestinian officials say was found dead in his Baghdad apartment with multiple gunshot wounds, is linked to several attacks in France — including a bomb attack on a Paris synagogue and a machine-gun assault at a Jewish restaurant.
Jo Goldenberg said the news of the death revived images of the sunny summer afternoon 20 years ago when gunmen burst into his Paris restaurant and sprayed machine-gun fire. The attack killed six people, including two Americans, and injured 21.
"You can't imagine the site of such a massacre. They fired 100 shots," said Goldenberg, 80, who arrived at the restaurant minutes after the attack on patrons and staffers.
"They fired on everyone who was eating lunch — everyone," Goldenberg said. The 42-year-old restaurant, Jo Goldenberg's, has become a landmark in the Marais, home to Paris' old Jewish quarter.
The attack and the October 1980 bombing of Paris' Copernic synagogue are believed to have been carried out by the Abu Nidal organization or another Palestinian splinter group opposed to the PLO. Four died in the synagogue attack.
Francoise Rudetzki, a spokeswoman for SOS Attentat, a group that represents the 1,800 victims of terrorism, said many were "angry, very disappointed" that Abu Nidal had escaped justice for so long.
"He benefited from the protection of several countries for 20 years, and he was never arrested and judged," said Rudetzki, who was injured in an unsolved bomb attack against the Grand Vefour restaurant in Paris in 1983. Abu Nidal is not a suspect in that bombing.
Abu Nidal's group is also blamed for a machine-gun and hand-grenade assault on a Greek ferry as it returned to Athens after a one-day cruise in 1988. Three French citizens were among the nine killed, and 34 of the 98 wounded were French.
In 1992, France asked Libya to extradite two Palestinian suspects, including Mohammed Khadar, the alleged operations chief of the Abu Nidal organization. Libya hosted Abu Nidal for more than a decade until 1997.
Abu Nidal's body was found three days ago, said two senior Palestinian officials in Ramallah who spoke on condition of anonymity. They said the reports they received from Baghdad suggested Abu Nidal had committed suicide but did not explain how that was possible when there was more than one bullet wound.
Word of his death came from his rivals — in the mid-1970s, Abu Nidal accused Yasser Arafat ( news - web sites)'s Palestinian Liberation Organization of softening in the struggle against Israel and made the PLO his prime target. His gunmen picked off Arafat's most trusted lieutenants.
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