The New York Times · 10 July 1972

CP-1972-030

Arafat Says Killing of Guerrilla Heralds New Blows at Israel

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BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 9 — Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian guerrilla leader, said today that the assassination yesterday of a prominent leader of the Marxist commando group known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was the beginning of “a new stage” in the warfare between the guerrillas and Israel. In a statement published here, Mr.

Arafat said that the murder of the front’s former spokesman, Ghassan Kanafani, “is a sign of a new development in the struggle introduced by Israel.” The guerrilla movement, the leader asserted, “must retaliate with painful blows that will shake the entire Israeli society.” Mr. Arafat is the leader of Al Fatah, the largest guerrilla organization.

He is also the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which embraces the main guerrilla factions, including the Popular Front. Niece Died With Him The Popular Front swore yesterday to exact “strong and cruel” revenge for Mr. Kanafani’s assassination. It happened in the parking lot of the apartment building in a Beirut suburb where Mr.

Kanafani lived with his wife and their two children. He and his 17-year-old niece, Lamis Najem, had just gotten into Mr. Kanafani’s car and it exploded when he tried to start it. While the Lebanese investigation of the assassination continued today under a cloak of secrecy, commando sources insisted that Israeli intelligence agents were behind the killing.

They reported that “evidence” had been found at the scene of the blast, and described it as a piece of paper bearing the official Israeli emblem of candelabrum and the following sentence, written in English: “With the compliments of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen.”

Israel Sees Guerrilla Plot TEL AVIV, July 9 — An Israeli police spokesman said today that the police believed that the bomb explosion in Beirut that killed an Arab guerrilla leader yesterday was connected with a terrorist plot to send parcels containing bombs to Israelis.

Superintendent Mordecai Tavor, spokesman for National Police Headquarters in Jerusalem, said the police had reason to believe that the victim, Ghassan Kanafini, had been in possession of bomb parcels or material for bomb parcels when he was killed as his car exploded.

The guerrillas, the spokesman said, had planned to attach to the parcels cards bearing the Israeli coat of arms and the inscription, “With the compliments of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen.” Mr. Tavor said that the card found in Beirut was a type commonly attached by the Copenhagen embassy to its invitations and publicity material. He noted that Mr.

Kanafani’s brother was living in Denmark. Newspapers here did not discount the suggestion that there was an Israeli hand in the assassination.

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