The New York Times · 19 October 1972

CP-1972-055

Rome Police Suspect Feud in Slaying

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Transcribed from the clipping

ROME, Oct. 18—A police official hunting the men who shot and killed Weil Abdel Zuaiter, the Libyan Embassy clerk said to have been the top agent in Italy of Al Fatah, the Palestinian guerrilla organization, said today that his killing might have been a result of a feud between factions of Palestinians.

The head of the political branch of Rome’s police voiced a belief that the murderers might have been “political enemies” of the Palestinians or “compatriots” involved in a feud between Black September and other Palestinian terrorists movements. Libyan, Jordanian and Israeli diplomatic officials all denied they had known of Mr. Zuaiter’s membership in Al Fatah.

He was shot Monday night as he was entering his suburban apartment house. Ashour Elaman, the Libyan Embassy’s press officer, said that Mr.

Zuaiter had worked part time for his office over the last five years as a translator of Italian periodicals but that he had not been checked on hiring because as a local employe his hiring did not need the Libyan Foreign Ministry’s approval.

An Israeli Embassy official denied the allegation by Al Fatah that Israeli secret service operatives had been behind the murder, saying the embassy had not heard of him before. Alberto Moravia, the writer, who said he had known Mr. Zuaiter for more than a year, asserted “everybody knew that Mr. Zuaiter was the cultural agent of Al Fatah in Italy.” But Mr.

Moravia said he was unaware that he also had a political role. Mr. Moravia also said that Mr. Zuaiter introduced him to Yasir Arafat, leader of Fatah, in March of last year during a trip, through Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Speculation that the killers were agents of a dissident faction within the Palestinian terrorist movement was supported today by Il Giornale d’Italia, a conservative Rome daily, which quoted a woman friend as saying that Mr. Zuaiter left Fatah about a year ago and had lived since in a state of fear. Police sources said that they were checking telephone numbers found in Mr.

Zuaiter’s apartment and fingerprints in a car in which two men escaped after the shooting. The car had been rented by a man who produced a false Canadian driving license.

How this transcription was made

One clipping, one scan. Two unrelated stories share the lower half of the scan — “PHILIPPINE PRELATES PROTEST TO MARCOS” and “President, in Shift, Plans Weekend Speech on Radio” — neither transcribed. No reporter is named; the only credit is “Special to The New York Times.” — Running head across the top of the page reads “THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1972”. 19 October 1972 was a Thursday. Matches Maria’s label.

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