Notable killings during the Palestine-Israel conflict since 1948

LAHORE: Since the inception of Israel on May 14, 1948, dozens of noted personalities including a former Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin, an American diplomat Thomas Wasson, a United Nations Peace Envoy Folke Bernadotte, an Agricultural Attaché at the Israeli embassy in London, 11 Israeli athletes taking part in 1972 Berlin Olympics, an Israeli Defence Attaché in Washington DC, an Israeli minister and numerous representatives of Mossad and the Palestinian Liberation Organization have been assassinated.
Here follows a brief timeline of the killings of these afore-mentioned important personalities since 1948:Just a week after Israel was placed on the world map, the first important casualty of the bloody conflict was an American diplomat Thomas Campbell Wasson (1896-1948), who was killed May 23, 1948, while serving as the Consul General for the United States in Jerusalem. Wasson was also a member of the United Nations Truce Commission.
On November 4, 1995, Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. He was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical Yigal Amir, who was opposed to Rabin’s signing of the Oslo Accords.
In September 1972, the Munich massacre took place during the 1972 Summer Olympics in the German city of Berlin. Some 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team, who were taken hostage, were eventually killed by a Palestinian group called Black September. A German police officer was also killed in the line of duty.
On September 19, 1972, Ami Shchori, an Agricultural Attaché at the Israeli embassy in London, was allegedly killed by an Arab letter bomb.
On October 17, 1972, Wael Zuaiter, the Rome-based representative of Al-Fatah, a faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, was allegedly shot dead by Israeli agents.
On December 8, 1972, Mahmud al-Hamshari, a Paris-based PLO representative, was badly wounded by an Israeli bomb. He died a month later.
On January 24, 1973, Hussein Aby al-Khair, Al-Fatah’s representative in Cyprus, was killed by an Israeli bomb.
On January 26, 1973, Baruch Cohen, a Mossad Director of Operations against Palestinians in Europe, killed in Madrid by an Al- Fatah gunman.
On March 12, 1973, Simha Gilzer, a Mossad agent, was shot dead in Cyprus by Palestinian gunmen.
On April 27, 1973, an Israeli Airlines employee was murdered in Rome by a Palestinian gunman. On June 27, 1973, Muhammad Boudia, an Algerian member of Al-Fatah, was killed in Paris by an Israeli bomb. On July 2, 1973, Yosef Alon, an Israeli Defense Attaché, was shot dead outside his home in Washington DC.
On January 3, 1977, Mahmud Saleh, a PLO representative in Paris and manager of an Arab bookshop, was killed by Israeli agents.
On January 4, 1978, Saeed Hammami, a PLO representative in London, was killed by an Abu Nidal Organization’s gunman. Abu Nidal was a splinter group that had broken away from Yasser Arafat’s Al-Fatah faction within the Palestinian Liberation Organization. It was formed by Abu Nidal (born Sabri Khalil al-Banna), who was widely regarded as the most ruthless of the Palestinian political leaders.
On June 15, 1978, Ali Yassin, a PLO representative in Kuwait, was also killed by an Abu Nidal Organization member.
On August 5, 1978, Yizz al-Din Qalaq, a PLO representative in Paris, was targeted by Abu Nidal’s men too.
On June 1, 1981, Naeem Khudr, a PLO representative in Brussels, became yet another victim of Abu Nidal’s comrades.
On October 9, 1981, Majid Abu Sharar, a prominent Al-Fatah member, was killed in Rome.
On April 10, 1983, Isam Sartawi, a close associate of Yasser Arafat was killed in Lisbon by Abu Nidal’s team.
On April 16, 1988, Abu Jihad (born as Khalil Al-Wazir), head of PLO’s military operations, was killed in Tunis by a seaborne Israeli assassination squad.
On January 14, 1991, Abu Iyad, second-in-command of Al-Fatah and an opponent of Yasser Arafat’s decision to back Saddam Hussein, was killed in Tunis by an Abu Nidal recruit.
On January 5, 1996, an al-Qassam Brigade commander Yahya Ayyash was killed by a telephone bomb.
On August 27, 2001, Abu Ali Mustafa, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was assassinated by an Israeli missile shot by an Apache helicopter through his office window in Ramallah.
On October 17, 2001, Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Rizvi was shot dead in Jerusalem by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Interestingly, on August 14, 2006, two FOX TV journalists were kidnapped by the Palestinians, who had demanded the US to release all Muslims in prison. The two newsmen were eventually released on August 27, after stating they had converted to Islam.
And during all this 67-year period under review, passenger planes have been shot down by Israel, Palestinian suicide bombers have hit bus stands, buses carrying civilians have been bombed by Israel, children have been sent to their graves in Israeli air strikes, rockets and grenades fired by both Israelis and Palestinians have claimed human lives, public properties and places of worship have been set ablaze by either side and hospitals and homes have been targeted.
While infighting within the Palestinian guerilla groups have claimed lives of various eminent anti-Israeli leaders, dissent within the Israeli camp has led to the assassination of the then sitting Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin (as mentioned above).