Mideast situation/Assassination of al-Wazir – Letter from Tunisia

LETTER DATED 19 APRIL 1988 FROM THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE

OF TUINISIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE

PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to inform you of the following:

On Saturday, 16 April 1988, at 1.30 a.m., a terrorist commando armed with silencer-equipped 9mm Uzi submachine-guns entered the residence of Mr. Khalil al-Wazir “Abu Jihad”, situated in Sidi Bou Said, in the northern suburbs of Tunis.

After shooting down Mr. Habib Dkhili, a Tunisian citizen employed as a gardener, as well as two guards, the commando assassinated Mr. Khalil al-Wazir, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, in the presence of his wife and daughter.

Having committed their crime, the members of the commando left the scene at 1.44 a.m. in two Volkswagen minibuses and a Peugeot 305 automobile which were found some hours later on the beach at Raoued, 15 kilometres from Sidi Bou Said.  These vehicles had been rented earlier from a car-rental agency.

The preliminary results of the investigation have established that at the very time when the operation was being carried out a Boeing 707 aircraft bearing Israeli insignia, which looked like a civil aircraft and was registered under the number 4X977, was flying not far from the Tunisian coast.  From this distance, the aircraft, which was in fact a military aircraft carrying ultra-sophisticated electronic equipment, was able to jam the telecommunications network in the area where the attack was carried out.

At this point in the investigation, it already seemed highly probable that Israel was implicated in this criminal act, and then statements made by Israeli official circles confirmed without any ambiguity the direct responsiblity of the Israeli Government, which had indeed financed and ordered the execution of Mr. Khalil al-Wazir.

By acknowledging its responsibility for this odious crime, Israel admits that it has attacked an independent country which is a Member of the United Nations and violated its territorial integrity and sovereignty in total disregard of the rules and norms of international law and of the principles embodied in the Charter, which it agreed to respect when it was admitted to the Organization.

Consequently, Tunisia, an open, hospitable and peaceful country, has once again been the target of the State terrorism consistently practised by Israel with cynicism and arrogance.

The Tunisian Government requests an urgent meeting of the Council to consider the situation created by this new deliberate attack on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Tunisia.

It invites the Council to condemn Israeli terrorism forcefully and to take appropriate steps to avert and prevent the repetition of such acts.

The Tunisian Government draws the attention of the Council to the recidivistic nature of these deplorable acts, which portend other attacks unless the Council takes practical and serious measures to counter Israeli terrorism.

(Signed) Ahmed GHEZAL

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

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