35th anniversary of female Palestinian martyr Dalal Mughrabi

Palestine is celebrating the 35th anniversary of Dalal Mughrabi, a female martyr who led the guerrilla group which clashed with the Israeli occupation in Tel Aviv in 1978. Mughrabi was born and raised in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra in Beirut, Lebanon after her family home in Jaffa was displaced during the Palestine-Israeli war in 1948. Originally educated as a nurse, Dalal Mughrabi decided to devote her life to politics when the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975. She joined the Palestinian organisation Fatah and began working within the group’s communications service. Mugrabi took part in the fighting against the Syrian army in the mountains southeast of Beirut when Syrian forces entered Lebanon in 1976 to assist the Phalangists and their allies. In 1977 she completed a three-month training course which earned her the rank of lieutenant. She was offered a post in Italy by Fatah as a political officer working at the PLO office, but declined, choosing a military career instead. On March 11, 1978, Mugrabi, along with her battalion of fighters managed to infiltrate the Lebanese-Israeli border to the coastal plain near Tel Aviv using rubber dinghy boats. She and her comrades then hijacked an Israeli military bus and took its passengers – consisting of three dozen soldiers - as hostages, prompting a nine-hour battle between Mugrabi’s troops and Israeli forces. The siege eventually ended with the death of Murgabi and most of her force as well as the majority of the soldiers on the bus. However, three decades later, most Palestinians still consider Dalal Mugrabi as a courageous hero and outstanding fighter.