Draft:List of aircraft hijackings and attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups

List of aircraft hijackings and attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups

Aircraft hijacking incidents involving palestinian groups relating mainly to the Arab-Israeli conflict were at their height between 1968 and 1972 . These incidents have widely been attributed to terrorism and attempts to force the release of Palestinian security prisoners in Israel and draw attention to the conflict . Hightened measures by airlines and governments contributed to a gradual reduction of reported incidents towards the mid-1970s . Governmental measures included the introduction of metal detectors in airports.

Below is a non-comprehensive list of hijacking incidents of aircraft and attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups.

1960s

• July 23, 1968: To date, the only successful El Al hijacking attempt, as three members of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked El Al Flight 426 from Rome to Tel Aviv. Diverting to Algiers, the negotiations extended over forty days. Both the hijackers and the hostages went free.
• December 26, 1968: The El Al Flight 253 attack was a terrorist attack by the PLO. Two palestinians Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad and Naheb H. Suleiman opened fire with submachine guns and handgrenades while the plane was preparing for takeoff. One male passenger was killed, and two female passengers were injured. Both terrorists survived.
• February 18, 1969: El Al Flight 432, A Boeing 720 on a stopover from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv via Zürich, was attacked on the ground in Zurich International Airport. Four armed Palestinians from PFLP attacked the aircraft with AK-47 rifles and grenades. The leader of the terrorists were killed by an armed Israeli security guard onboard the aircraft. One crew member were shot and later died of his wounds, and several passeners were injured.
• August 29, 1969: TWA Flight 840 was a Trans World Airlines flight from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy, to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, that was hijacked on 29 August 1969 by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). There were no fatalities, although the aircraft was significantly damaged, and two hostages were held for two months.

1970s

• February 21, 1970: Swissair Flight 330 from Zurich-Kloten Airport to Kai Tak Airport, British Hong Kong, via Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport, crashed nine minutes after take-off when a bomb that had been planted by two members of the PLO exploded. All 47 passengers and crew were killed. The same day another bomb exploded aboard an Austrian Airlines Caravelle bound for Vienna. The Austrian Airlines plane landed safely.
• July 22, 1970: Olympic Airways Flight 255 six PFLP hijacked a Boeing 727 out of Athens, Greece to Beirut, Lebanon. Greek authorities complied with the hijackers' demands and released seven Palestinian terrorists.
• September 6, 1970: As part of the Dawson's Field hijackings by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members, the TWA Flight 741 from Frankfurt (a Boeing 707) and Swissair Flight 100 from Zürich (a Douglas DC-8) were forced to land at Dawson's Field.
• September 6, 1970: As part of the Dawson's Field hijackings by PFLP members, the hijacking of El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam (a Boeing 707) was foiled: hijacker Patrick Argüello was shot and killed, and his partner Leila Khaled was subdued and turned over to British authorities in London.
• September 6, 1970: As part of the Dawson's Field hijackings by PFLP members, two hijackers who were prevented from boarding the El Al flight, hijacked instead Pan Am Flight 93, a Boeing 747, diverting the large plane first to Beirut and then to Cairo, rather than to the small Jordanian airstrip.
• September 9, 1970: As part of the Dawson's Field hijackings by PFLP members, BOAC Flight 775, a Vickers VC10 coming from Bahrain, was hijacked by a PFLP sympathizer and brought to Dawson's Field in order to pressure the British to free Leila Khaled.
• February 22, 1972: Lufthansa Flight 649, a Boeing 747-200 from Tokyo to Frankfurt, was hijacked by a group commandeered by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the Delhi-Athens leg and forced to divert to Aden, where all 182 passengers and crew were released the next day in exchange for a $5 million ransom.
• May 8, 1972: Sabena Flight 571 from Vienna to Tel Aviv was taken over by four members of the Palestinian Black September movement. The plane diverted to Lod airport, where the hijackers demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, or the plane would be blown up. It was stormed by israeli Sayeret Matkal special forces. Two future Israeli prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu took part in the rescue. Two of the hijackers were killed along with one female passenger.
• October 29, 1972: Lufthansa Flight 615, a Boeing 727, from Beirut to Frankfurt, piloted by capt. Walter Claussen, was hijacked by three men and flown to Zagreb, asking for the liberation of the three surviving perpetrators of the Munich Massacre on 5 September that year. After boarding the three liberated men, the plane was redirected to Tripoli, Libya where all hostages were finally released.
• July 20, 1973: Japan Airlines Flight 404 was a Boeing 747-246B hijacked just after takeoff from Schiphol Airport en route to Tokyo. The hijackers were four member of PFLP and a member of the Japanese Red Army. The plane flew to Dubai, then Damascus before ending in Libya. All passengers and crew were released after 89 hours, but the aircraft was destroyed on the ground in Benghazi, Libya.
• On October 18, 1973, Danielle Cravenne, the second wife of French film producer Georges Cravenne, was shot dead by a police sniper at Marignane airport. Danielle, who was mentally unstable, had tried to hijack 1973 Paris-Nice flight to protest against the release of the film The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob which was being promoted by Cravenne and which she considered "anti-Palestinian", especially in the midst of the Yom Kippur War.
• November 25, 1973: A KLM Boeing 747, "Mississippi", was hijacked by three young Arabs over Iraqi airspace on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board. After the hijackers threatened to blow up the plane when no country would grant landing permission, the plane landed in Malta. Most of the passengers and the eight flight attendants were released after negotiations with the Maltese PM Dom Mintoff who argued with the hijackers that the plane could not possibly take off with both the passengers and the 27,000 gallons of fuel they had demanded given the (then) short runway. With 11 passengers on board the jumbo jet left Malta to Dubai where the incident ended without fatalities.
• December 17, 1973: 1973 Rome airport attacks and hijacking Five heavily armed Palestinian members of PLO invaded Rome-Fiumicino Airport and killed two people while making their way to Pan Am Flight 110 which was preparing to leave the gate. The destroyed the airplane and killed 30 passengers and crew. Then they hijacked Lufthansa Flight 303 and flew to Athens where one passenger was killed. They refueled and flew on to Damascus in Syria, where they again refueled. The final stop was Kuwait where all hostages was released, after the terrorists negotiated a free passage for themselves.
• September 8, 1974: TWA Flight 841 (1974) from Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport to New York City via Athens and Rome, crashed into the Ionian Sea killing all 88 passengers and crew. The source of the crash was a bomb in the cargo hold, believed to have been planted by the "National Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine", a group associated with the Abu Nidal Organization.
• June 27, 1976: The hijack of Air France Flight 139 on June 27, 1976, by members of the militant organizations Revolutionary Cells and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations was brought to an end on July 4 at Entebbe Airport, Uganda by Operation Entebbe: Israeli commandos assaulted the building holding the hijackers and hostages, killing all Palestinian hijackers and rescuing 105 persons, almost all Israeli and Jewish hostages. However, three passengers and one commando were killed.
• October 13, 1977: Lufthansa Flight 181 (also known as the Landshut) was hijacked by Palestinian hijackers on a flight from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt. The ordeal ended in Mogadishu, Somalia when GSG 9 commandos stormed the plane. Three hijackers were killed and 86 hostages were freed. The pilot was killed before the raid. The hand of West Germany's Red Army Faction was suspected.

1980s

• August 11, 1982: Pan Am Flight 830 was enroute to Los Angeles, California via Hawaii when a bomb planted on the aircraft exploded. The bomb had been planted by Mohammed Rashed, a Jordanian linked to the 15 May Organization. One passenger was killed by the blast, but the pilot was able to land the plane safely at Honolulu International Airport.
• September 23, 1983: Gulf Air Flight 771 blew up in mid-flight after a bomb exploded in the bagage compartment. The plane was enroute from Karachi to Abu Dhabi. 112 passengers and crew died. The bomb was planted by the militant palestinian Abu Nidal Organization in an attempt to pressure Saudi Arabia to pay protection money to avoid attacks on their own soil.
• November 23, 1985: Three Palestinian members of the Abu Nidal Organization hijacked its Athens to Cairo route, EgyptAir Flight 648 and demanded that it fly to Malta. All together, 60 people died, most of them when Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft.
• April 2, 1986: TWA Flight 840 bombing was a Boeing 727-231 from Los Angeles to Cairo, via New York City, Rome and Athens. A bomb planted by a woman from the Abu Nidal Organization exploded shortly before landing in Athens blasting a hole in the airplane's starboard side. Four passengers died after being blown out. The aircraft made a successful emergency landing.
• September 5, 1986: 22 people were killed when Pakistani security forces stormed Boeing 747-121 Pan Am Flight 73 at Karachi, carrying 360 passengers and crew after a 16-hour siege. The flight was en route to Frankfurt from Mumbai, India, when the flight was hijacked on the ground in Karachi by four armed terrorists of the Abu Nidal Organization. On 19 February 2016, the Bollywood movie Neerja, based on this hijacking, was released.

1990s

• September 3, 1996: Hemus Air Tu-154 aircraft was hijacked by the Palestinian Nadir Abdallah, flying from Beirut to Varna. The hijacker demanded that the aircraft be refuelled and given passage to Oslo, Norway after landing at Varna Airport. All of the 150 passengers were freed at Varna; afterwards the crew continued the flight to Oslo, where the hijacker surrendered and asked for political asylum.

See also

• Aircraft hijacking
• Arab-Israeli Conflict
• Sabena Flight 571
• Entebbe Raid
• Category:Attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups