El Al Flight 426 was an El Al passenger flight hijacked on July 23, 1968 by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), setting off a wave of hijackings by the PFLP. Scholars have characterized the hijacking as significant in the advent of modern international air terrorism.

History

The aircraft, a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 2 ...

, was scheduled to fly from Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to Lod Airport, now known as Ben Gurion International Airport. The plane was diverted to

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

. After the aircraft departed Rome, the pilots requested coffee from the cabin crew. As the coffee was being brought up to the pilots, two of the hijackers forced their way through the door to the flight deck, one of them clubbed the

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air m ...

with the butt of his pistol and ordered the plane to fly to Algiers. The remaining hijacker threatened the passengers with a pistol and an unpinned hand grenade. When the plane landed at Dar El Beida, Algerian authorities grounded the plane. The following day they sent all non-Israeli passengers to France on Air Algérie Caravelle jets. Ten women and children were released over the weekend. The remaining 12 Israeli passengers, and the crew of 10 were held as hostages for the remainder of the hijacking. The hijackers were identified as members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They were equipped with Iranian and Indian passports. The hijackers were carefully chosen by the PFLP because of their occupations (a pilot, a colonel in the Palestinian army, and a karate teacher). The Israeli and Algerian governments negotiated the return of the hostages and plane through diplomatic channels. Five weeks later, everyone was released in exchange for 16 convicted Arab prisoners. According to the BBC, lasting 40 days, it was the longest hijacking of a commercial flight. Pilot Oded Abarbanell later wrote a memoir of his experience during the hijacking.

References

Aircraft hijackings El Al accidents and incidents 1968 in Israel Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1968 July 1968 events in Europe Terrorist incidents in Italy in 1968 Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1968 1968 crimes in Italy 1968 crimes in the United Kingdom Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707 Aircraft hijackings in the United Kingdom {{aviation-accident-stub

History

See also

References