Curse of the Achille Lauro

by Nimer, al- Reem

Abu al-Abbas was one of Yasser Arafats top generals. His name is forever linked to an operation in 1985 that sparked an international crisis: the hijacking of an Italian cruise liner named the Achille Lauro and the death of Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly American tourist. This memoir by the wife of Abu al-Abbas recalls an era of Palestinian resistance, the hard realities of a cause that faced impossible odds, and the irony that the death of a single man should outweigh all arguments of right and wrong. Her book is a tribute to lost souls – on all side of this conflict.