Coastal road massacre

Coastal road massacre
Part of the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Remains of the hijacked bus being inspected shortly after the attack
Coastal road massacre is located in Central Israel
Coastal road massacre
class=notpageimage|
The attack site
LocationCoastal Highway near Tel Aviv, Israel
Coordinates32°08′52.6″N 34°48′11.4″E / 32.147944°N 34.803167°E / 32.147944; 34.803167
DateMarch 11, 1978; 46 years ago (1978-03-11)
Attack type
Mass murder, spree killing
WeaponsVarious weapons, possible grenade
Deaths48 (38 Israeli civilians including 13 children,[1] 1 Israeli soldier[not verified in body] + 9 Palestinian attackers)
Injured76 wounded[1]
PerpetratorsFatah, PLO
No. of participants
11 militants

The coastal road massacre occurred on 11 March 1978, when Palestinian militants hijacked a bus on the Coastal Highway of Israel and murdered its occupants; 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed as a result of the attack while 76 more were wounded.[2][1][3] The attack was planned by the influential Palestinian militant leader Khalil al-Wazir (aka Abu Jihad)[4] and carried out by Fatah, a Palestinian nationalist party co-founded by al-Wazir and Yasser Arafat in 1959. The initial plan of the militants was to seize a luxury hotel in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and take tourists and foreign ambassadors hostage to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.[5]

According to Time magazine, the timing was aimed primarily at undermining Israeli–Egyptian peace talks between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat and damaging Israel's tourism sector.[6][7] However, due to a navigational error, the attackers ended up 64 kilometres (40 mi) north of their target, and were forced to find an alternative method of transportation to their destination.[6]

Time characterized it as "the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history."[7] Fatah dubbed the hijacking "Operation of the Martyr Kamal Adwan"[8] after the chief of operations of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who was killed during the Israeli commando raid on Lebanon in April 1973.[9][10] In response to the massacre, Israel launched Operation Litani against PLO bases in southern Lebanon three days later.

  1. ^ a b c "1978, March 11. The Coastal Road Massacre". Richard Ernest Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt Dupuy (chamel). The Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present, Harper & Row, 1986; ISBN 978-0-06-181235-4, p. 1362.
  2. ^ Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Statement to the press by Prime Minister Begin on the massacre of Israelis on the Haifa-Tel Aviv Road". Archived 24 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Historical Documents Archive: 12 March 1978.
  3. ^ Gregory S. Mahler. "Operation Litani is launched in retaliation for that month's Coastal Road massacre", Politics and Government in Israel: The Maturation of a Modern State, Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7425-1611-3, p. 259.
  4. ^ "Israel's successful assassinations" (in Hebrew). MSN. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  5. ^ Moshe Brilliant, "Israeli officials Say Gunmen Intended to Seize Hotel", The New York Times, 13 March 1978.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference tragedy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b "A Sabbath of Terror", Time, 20 March 1978.
  8. ^ Edgar O'Ballance (1979). Language of Violence: The Blood Politics of Terrorism, p. 289, Presidio Press (original from the University of Michigan); ISBN 978-0-89141-020-1, ISBN 978-0-89141-020-1
  9. ^ "An Eye for an Eye". CBS. 20 November 2001. Retrieved 21 November 2001.
  10. ^ Greenaway, HDS, "Arab Terrorist Raid in Israel Kills 30", The Washington Post, 12 March 1978.