Body of women's resistance icon, Dalal Al-Mughrabi, to return in swap, Fatah planning large ceremonies

Date: 04 / 07 / 2008 Time: 14:09
Ramallah – Ma'an -

The Office of Preparation and Organization, a public relations institution set up by Fatah, issued a call to all regions to begin preparations to receive the body of Dalal Al-Mughrabi in the prisoners' swap.

Al-Mughrabi was killed in a battle with Israeli troops following the hijacking of a bus in Tel Aviv on 11 March 1978. The attack, organized by Khalil Al-Wazir, "Abu Jihad" who was affiliated with the military wing of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement of Fatah, was a notable incident of cooperation between Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements.

The incident saw a group of fighters infiltrate Tel Aviv by sea and hijack a bus south of the city of Haifa, holding 83 Israeli passengers hostage. Their aim was to put pressure on Israel to release Palestinian Arabs detainees in Israeli jails.

According to the approved swap dozens of dead bodies and detainees will be released in the next two weeks. The release of the body of Dalal Al-Mughrabi, born 1958, is receiving particular attention due to her role in the bus hijackings. After the incident she became the symbol for the Palestinian women's struggle; factions have been requesting the release of her body for thirty years.

Ahmed Qurei' and his deputy Muhammad Al-Madani of the Preparation and Organizing Committee have planned large-scale events in order to receive the body of Al-Mughrabi. They ask that National Forces as well as Palestinian citizens of Israel participate in the events preceding the burial of the prominent woman in her homeland.

The events will likely include marches, official talks and speeches about Al-Mughrabi's heroic deeds. Organizers are waiting to hear whether the prisoners' swap will also include a number of other bodies of individuals who participated alongside Al-Mughrabi in the hijacking, notably Mohammed Yehia Skaf, born in Lebanon1959, who would be returned to his family in Lebanon's Akkar district.

Skaf went missing after the attack, and the Red Cross stated that he was detained in the Israeli prisons. Israel did not confirm his presence in Israeli prisons, although it appears that now his body will be handed over to his family, confirming earlier suspicions of his death. The body will, however, be subjected to DNA tests to confirm its identity.

According to the Dalal Al-Mughrabi Brigades (named after the fallen hijacker) the bodies of Al-Mughrabi and Skaf have been kept in an Israeli mortuary since 1978.

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