Dalal Mughrabi - Coastal Road Massacre

Coastal Road Massacre

On the morning of March 11, 1978, Mughrabi and a group of between 11 and 13 Palestinian and Lebanese militants arrived on the coastal plain near Tel Aviv from Lebanon in rubber dinghies. According to The Guardian, Mughrabi lead the group, which included one more woman. According to Khaled Abu Asba, one of the two perpetrators who survived, Mughrabi did not lead the team and was the only woman. The timing was aimed at scuttling peace talks between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. Time reported that the attackers' intent was to "kill as many Israelis as possible." According to Hugh MacLeod, their goal was to attack the ministry of defence in Tel Aviv. Dalal's sister Rashida al-Mughrabi later said, "The objective was not to kill civilians, but to reach the Knesset and demand the release of Palestinian prisoners." "I have no regrets about what my sister did. The Israelis are the ones who forced her to carry out the attack because they expelled us and stole our lands. They caused us a great injustice by turning us into a nation of refugees, and, if it weren't for the occupation, Dalal would never have carried out the attack. Maybe she would have raised a family and pursued a career."

The first casualty of the operation was an American photographer named Gail Rubin, whom Abu Absa says was killed by Mughrabi because the militants feared she would inform authorities of their presence. According to Time, the militants opened fire at passing traffic and hijacked a taxi, killing its occupants. The militants then seized a bus and proceeded along the coastal highway to Tel Aviv. While driving south, the hijackers seized another bus, and moved the hostages (now numbering 71) to the first bus. Both hijacked buses were filled with militants and sightseers. Abu Absa says that at every intersection where police set up roadblocks to stop the bus, there was an exchange of fire, but that the militants "never shot the hostages."

Israeli forces stopped the bus, and a 9 to 15-hour shooting battle ensued before the bus exploded. During the shootout, according to MacLeod, Mughrabi raised the Palestinian flag and declared the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel says the bus exploded after Mughrabi blew it up with a grenade, while Palestinians say it was struck by fire from an Israeli helicopter gunship, though reports said the bus was stopped by some 30 traffic police armed with .38 revolvers and Uzi sub-machine guns. Most of the militants and bus passengers were killed in the fighting and explosion, including one Israeli policeman. A total of 38 Israelis, including 13 children, were killed and 72 were wounded; Mughrabi and nine other militants died as well. While there was not time enough to order up special Israeli antiterrorist squads before the confrontation, and the Israeli rescue attempt was reportedly led by some 30 "terrified traffic cops", other reports say that Ehud Barak, then an officer in the Sayeret Matkal anti-terrorism unit, led the rescue operation. According to Hugh Macleod, a British journalist, there are reports of images of him firing shots into Mughrabi's dead body as it lay on the road.

The attack became known as the Coastal Road massacre. In response, Israel launched Operation Litani against PLO bases in southern Lebanon three days later.