Abdel Wael Zwaiter
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Abdel Wael Zwaiter (Arabic: وائل زعيتر) was a Palestinian translator and the first target of Israel's Operation Wrath of God campaign following the 1972 Munich massacre. Born in Nablus the mid-1930s, he went to Iraq to study Arabic literature and philosophy at the University of Baghdad. Zwaiter moved first to Libya and then Rome, where he was a PLO representative and worked as a translator for the Libyan embassy. In addition to his native Arabic, Zwaiter spoke French, Italian, and English. During his time in Italy Zwaiter translated One Thousand and One Nights from Arabic into Italian.
Zwaiter was held for questioning by Italian police in August 1972 in relation to a bombing by the group Black September against an oil refinery, but was later released. The Israeli Mossad suspected him of being the head of Black September in Rome, and put him on an assassination list after Black September's attack in Munich. When he returned to his apartment building on the night of October 16, 1972, he was shot 12 times by two Israeli agents, killing him.
[edit] References
- Klein, Aaron J. Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response. New York: Random House, Inc., 2005. ISBN 1-4000-6427-9
