Mastermind of Olympics terror barred from West Bank

JERUSALEM -- Bowing to German pressure, Israel has prevented the entry into the West Bank of Mohammad Daoud Odeh, who engineered the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of 11 Israeli athletes.

Outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered that the VIP card of Daoud Odeh, who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu Daoud, be revoked.

Odeh called the decision "illegal," saying he would petition the Israeli Supreme Court.

Odeh, 63, has lived in the Palestinian self-rule areas without hindrance from the Israeli security authorities for the past three years, and even received the VIP card as a Palestinian Authority official.

He was one of the members of the Palestine National Council who was allowed to enter the Palestinian territories in 1996 to annul the clauses of the Palestinian Covenant calling for Israel's destruction.

The Israeli move came after Germany issued a warrant calling for Odeh's arrest. The German warrant created a no-win situation for Israel, which chose to risk increasing tensions in its relations with the Palestinian Authority.

"When Germany wants the extradition of a wanted killer, it should address its request to the country where the killer happens to be at the moment," said one of Netanyahu's top aides, David Bar-Illan.

"Since he is in Jordan, I presume it is for the Jordanian authorities to arrest him, or if he manages to get into the Palestinian Authority area, it should be the Palestinian Authority."

In his autobiography, "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich" published last month, Odeh admitted that he planned the hostage-taking at the Munich Olympics. Until then, German and Israeli authorities apparently hadn't known of the extent of his involvement in the incident.

During a bungled rescue effort at Munich airport, nine Israeli athletes, five Palestinian gunmen and a German policeman died. Two Israeli athletes had been killed earlier in the Olympic village.

On Sunday, Odeh said he would petition the high court to enable him to return from Jordan to his home in Ramallah.

"I will wait for a little bit, see what is going on, and then go to the high court," Odeh told Israel Radio's Arabic Service in an interview from Amman.

Odeh's son Daoud, an official at the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Tourism, said his father may soon leave Jordan for Cairo or Tunis.

Several Palestinian officials have come out in Odeh's defense.

"They should reconsider this unfair decision," said Ahmed Qurie, Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker. "The man is a member of the Palestine National Council and the Fatah [Revolutionary] Council. He is a man that the Israeli government allowed in after it studied his files."

He said the Palestinian Authority would raise the matter with the government.

"They should not look at the past. If you open the files, we have many things about many leaders in Israel."

Asked about the deaths of the Israelis at Munich, Qurie said, "It was a war, and it is finished now. We are in the peace process."

If past actions are not kept in the past, he said, "many people in the Israeli army and Palestinian police would be put in jail."

Odeh offered a variety of explanations for his plight Sunday, including one to Israel Radio's Arabic service: "This is a political case. The Germans want to use it to avoid reparation [payments]."

Ankie Spitzer, wife of fencing coach Andre Spitzer who was slain at the 1972 Munich Olympics, criticized Netanyahu's decision as being too weak.

The government should have allowed Odeh to return and then arrest him and extradite him to Germany or try him here, she said.

Spitzer said the bereaved families also plan to petition the high court if Odeh petitions the court against the ban.

"Here we have the person who admitted to masterminding the operation, obtaining the weapons and assisting the terrorists in getting inside the Olympic village. It is incomprehensible that he is allowed to go free. He perpetrated the crime and he should pay," she said.

Spitzer said the slain athletes had been tortured during the 21 hours they were held hostage. Only recently, after a long arduous battle with the German authorities, was she able to secure the release of about 900 photos of the slain athletes taken by pathologists. They showed very explicitly how they were tortured, she said.