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Issam Sartawi is assassinated
Uri Avnery Social activist
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At that time Sartawi was also a representative of the PLO at the Socialist International. The Socialist International had a high-level conference in Portugal, I think the place is called Albufeira. Some of the greatest members of the Socialist International came there: Willy Brandt of Germany, Bruno Kreisky from Austria, and representatives from all around the world, and Shimon Peres from the Labor Party in Israel. Although Sartawi was advised not come for reasons of security, he came. He stayed in a hotel some distance away, several kilometers away, and he came there, but he was not invited. Sorry, he was of course invited as a representative of the PLO, but he was not on the list of speakers and the list of those delivering greetings. So Kreisky, who was very stubborn, took the stand and demanded that Issam Sartawi be allowed to come into the hall and be given the right to speak. Shimon Peres rose and made a speech and said: 'Absolutely not. This is a terrorist organization, he is the representative of a terrorist organization', etc. And they did not let him come in and he remained outside in the vestibule. Then a young man − who later turned out to be the cousin of Abu Nidal − approached and shot and killed him. Then Shimon Peres again requested permission to speak, again he went up to the podium and began to eulogize: 'the great hero, a seeker of peace, an exemplar − Issam Sartawi'. That was Shimon Peres!

ואז, סרטאווי היה גם נציג של אש"ף באינטרנציונל הסוציאליסטי. והאינטרנציונל הסוציאליסטי היה לו כנס רם דרג בפורטוגל, אני חושב שהמקום נקרא “אָבּוּפֶרְיָה". ולשם באו גדולי האינטרנציונל הסוציאליסטי: וילי ברנדט מגרמניה, ברונו קרייסקי מאוסטריה ומכל העולם, ושמעון פרס מישראל, מ"מפלגת העבודה". ולמרות שיעצו לסרטאווי לא לבוא מטעמי בטחון, הוא בא. והוא גר באיזה מלון מחוץ למקום, ככה כמה קילומטרים מרחק, ובא לשם, אבל הוא לא היה מוזמן. סליחה, הוא כן היה מוזמן בתור נציג אש”ף, אבל הוא לא היה ברשימת הנואמים וברשימת המברכים. אז קרייסקי, שהיה עקשן גדול, עלה לדוכן ודרש להכניס לאולם ולתת את זכות הדיבור לעיסאם סרטאווי. קם שמעון פרס ונואם נאום ואומר: "בשום פנים, זה ארגון טרור, נציג של ארגון טרור" וכו' וכו' וכו’. ולא נתנו לו להיכנס, ובאמת הוא נשאר בחוץ, בטרקלין. ואז בא איש צעיר, שלימים התברר שהוא בן דודו של אבו נידאל, וירה בו והרג אותו. ואז שמעון פרס מבקש את רשות הדיבור, עולה עוד פעם על הדוכן ומתחיל להספיד את "הגיבור הגדול, שוחר השלום, איש המופת עיסאם סרטאווי". זה שמעון פרס.‏

Uri Avnery (1923-2018) was an Israeli writer, journalist and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement. As a teenager, he joined the Zionist paramilitary group, Irgun. Later, Avnery was elected to the Knesset from 1965 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1981. He was also the editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine, 'HaOlam HaZeh' from 1950 until it closed in 1993. He famously crossed the lines during the Siege of Beirut to meet Yasser Arafat on 3 July 1982, the first time the Palestinian leader ever met with an Israeli. Avnery was the author of several books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including '1948: A Soldier's Tale, the Bloody Road to Jerusalem' (2008); 'Israel's Vicious Circle' (2008); and 'My Friend, the Enemy' (1986).

Listeners: Anat Saragusti

Anat Saragusti is a film-maker, book editor and a freelance journalist and writer. She was a senior staff member at the weekly news magazine Ha'olam Hazeh, where she was prominent in covering major events in Israel. Uri Avnery was the publisher and chief editor of the Magazine, and Saragusti worked closely with him for over a decade. With the closing of Ha'olam Hazeh in 1993, Anat Saragusti joined the group that established TV Channel 2 News Company and was appointed as its reporter in Gaza. She later became the chief editor of the evening news bulletin. Concurrently, she studied law and gained a Master's degree from Tel Aviv University.

Tags: Issam Sartawi, Simon Peres, Bruno Kreisky

Duration: 2 minutes, 23 seconds

Date story recorded: October 2015

Date story went live: 26 June 2017