Negotiations Regarding the Hijacking of the Italian Vessel Achille Lauro (October 8-10, 1985) and the Subsequent American Response

On Monday, October 7, 1985, four members of the Palestine Liberation Front commandeered the Italian vessel Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt when a stewardess entered their cabin to inform them of the mealtime for fruit. Upon his entry, they were engaged in weapon maintenance and compelled to alter their initial strategy, which entailed disembarking at the port of Ashdod (Israel), executing numerous Israelis, and subsequently escaping aboard. They seized possession of the vessel at 5 p.m. and utilized the ship's radio to declare their dominion over it. The action was orchestrated by the Front's head, Muhammad Zidan (Abu Al-Abbas). The operation spanned three days, during which the hijackers murdered a 69-year-old American Jewish man and disposed of his body in the Mediterranean Sea. During that period, negotiations occurred between the hijackers and the Egyptian government, representing the Italian government and the ambassadors of the nations whose citizens were abducted, with the involvement of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in a collective effort to resolve the hijacking as peacefully as possible. Egypt successfully resolved the ship hijacking by ensuring the hijackers' safety and transferring them to the Palestine Liberation Front in Tunisia via an Egyptian aircraft on November 10 of that year.