Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar

Originally from Yibna , he began his involvement in the General Union of Palestinian Students . When the Fatah organization formed in the late 1950s, Youssef was an early activist, traveling to Qatar to form similar groups, and taking command of Fatah's military wing. In 1968 Youssef was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization . Just a few years later he became an operations leader in the Black September . This group was responsible for the 1972 Munich Massacre , in which 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed. This prompted Israel to launch a revenge campaign called Operation Wrath of God , with Youssef as a principle target. In 1973 Israel sent commandos into Beirut , Lebanon to kill a number of high level PLO officials in Operation Spring of Youth . Youssef and his wife were killed by gunfire in their bedroom when troops stormed into their Beirut apartment. Two months before his death, Youssef was interviewed by the Beirut newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour . In it he explained his conviction to the Palestinian cause: "We plant the seeds, and the others will reap the harvest... Most probably we'll all die, killed because we are confronting a fierce enemy. But the youth will replace us." Bell, J. Assassin: Theory and Practice of Political Violence .¹