Yusef Urabi (; also spelled Yusuf Orabi) was a Palestinian officer in the Syrian Army as well as an early member of Fatah's armed wing, al-Assifa. In 1966 he was killed in the Yarmouk Camp in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

during an attempt to ease tensions between Palestinian leaders

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

and Ahmed Jibril.

Military career

Urabi served as a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

for one of the regular Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA) units within the Syrian Army. He sympathized with Ba'athism, an ideology promoting

pan-Arabism Pan-Arabism () is a Pan-nationalism, pan-nationalist ideology that espouses the unification of all Arabs, Arab people in a single Nation state, nation-state, consisting of all Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa from the Atlantic O ...

and

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and was a close military adviser and friend of

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

. Urabi enlisted with al-Assifa, the armed wing of Fatah, in the late 1950s. Al-Assad, who was

Defense Minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

at the time, selected Urabi in 1966 to head the operations of Fatah—which was based in Syria—and instructed

and other Fatah leaders to recognize Urabi's authority.

Death

On 5 May 1966, during a meeting chaired by Urabi to alleviate tensions between Arafat and Ahmed Jibril in the Yarmouk Refugee Camp, Urabi was assassinated. Consequently, Arafat along with his aide Khalil al-Wazir and several other Fatah officials were arrested and imprisoned on al-Assad's orders. Al-Assad personally interrogated al-Wazir and the officials who denied being present at the scene. The circumstances of Urabi's killing at Yarmouk are disputed. Al-Wazir claimed that al-Assad, Jibril and the Military Intelligence Directorate had planned to assassinate Arafat using Urabi to lure the latter into a trap. Jibril aborted the meeting at the last minute and Arafat also did not attend without notifying Jibril. Instead, the former sent a Palestinian Syrian Army officer named Adnan and the latter sent a colleague, Mohammed Hishme with bodyguard Abdul Majib Zahmud who was to remain outside of the meeting. According to Zahmud, a loud argument took place with Adnan yelling at Urabi. Then, Adnan allegedly shot and killed both Urabi and Hishme before fleeing the scene. Arafat and al-Wazir were arrested, but both claimed they were not present at the scene because of an emergency meeting with another intelligence officer, Ahmed Sweidani. They were later pardoned by President Salah Jadid after Sweidany confirmed their statement.Hart, pp.204-205 In contrast, according to Palestinian writer

Said Aburish Said Aburish (full name Saʿīd Muḥammad Khalīl ʾAbū Rīsh) (; 1 May 1935 – 29 August 2012), was a Palestinian journalist and writer. Aburish was born in al-Eizariya (also known as "Bethany") in 1935, and he and his family moved to Beirut ...

, Urabi was defenestrated from a third-floor window and died immediately. While Arafat was not present when Syrian police arrived to the crime scene, he had sought refuge in a Syrian police coronel house. He then pleaded President Jedid for protection, but was subsequently detained by police on al-Assad orders. Arafat and al-Wazir were moved to the Mezzah prison and kept in solitary confinement. Assad appointed a three-man jury to investigate the case, which found Arafat guilty, sentencing him to

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

. But finally Jedid released Arafat and closed the file.Aburish, pp.63

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Urabi, Yusef 1966 deaths Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region politicians Fatah military commanders Syrian military personnel Suicides by jumping Year of birth missing Palestinian Arab nationalists