Ghassan Kanafani - Assassination

Assassination

Several days after the Lod airport massacre, a picture of Kanafani together with one of the Japanese terrorists was published. On July 8, 1972, Kanafani was killed by a bomb planted in his car in Beirut; his seventeen-year-old niece Lamees Najim was also killed . The New York Times reported the following day, "Beirut Blast Kills Guerrilla Leader". The assassination is thought to be the work of the Israeli Mossad, and according to one source, later claimed responsibility for his death. One obituary wrote of him that he was 'the commando who never fired a gun'. He was 36 years old at the time. A collection of Palestinian Resistance poems, The Palestinian Wedding, which took its title from the eponymous poem by Mahmoud Darwish was published to honour his memory.

The assassination took place while Kanafani was headed for the al-Hadaf office. His Danish wife Anni, small son and daughter escaped unhurt. Kanafani’s successor, Bassam Abu Sharif, was also targeted by Israeli’s intelligence officers. He lost sight in one eye and several fingers when a letter bomb exploded in his Beirut office. Ghassan Kanafani’s memory was upheld through the creation of the Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation, which has since established eight kindergartens for the children of Palestinian refugees. His legacy lives on among the Palestinians, and he is considered one of the greatest modern Arabic authors.