Leila Khaled: Rafik Hariri Transferred Wadie Haddad’s Weapons to Europe

Leila Khaled: Rafik Hariri Transferred Wadie Haddad’s Weapons to Europe

Episode one

Journalists sometimes fall into the trap of being drawn into the story of a thorny, sensual, or cruel man who has a remarkable role at a certain stage. The man’s name could be Vladimir Putin, Saddam Hussein, or Muammar Gaddafi.

I was attracted to stories shrouded in so much malice and mystery. That is how I spent years looking for features, stories, and details.

The story of another man, the Palestinian leader Wadie Haddad, whose name has been associated with hijacking planes and “chasing the enemy everywhere” had caught my attention.

In the 70s of the last century, Haddad, who was responsible for foreign operations at the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” shook the region and the world.

Operations launched by Haddad preoccupied political, security and media circles with two key stars: Carlos the Jackal, whose star shone after the kidnapping of the OPEC ministers in Vienna, and the second was the young Palestinian woman, Leila Khaled, who participated in the 1969 and 1970 hijackings of two planes.

In the summer of 2001, I published a lengthy investigation on Haddad, which also included Carlos’ responses to questions I sent to him in his French prison, where he still resides.

However, circumstances prevented Khaled