Abbas Limits Future Acts to Israel Targets : Says He Won’t Hit ‘Innocents,’ Admits Hijacking Was Error

ALGIERS, Algeria —  Mohammed Abbas, mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking in which a wheelchair-bound American was killed, said today that his future strikes would be on Israel, not against “innocent people.”

He spoke to the Associated Press amid reports he was being pressured to quit the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee because of the October, 1985, hijacking.

Palestinian sources later confirmed that Abbas will be removed from the 14-member ruling body. There was no official confirmation of their report.

“How many times must I apologize and clarify the Achille Lauro affair?” Abbas said about the hijacking by four young Palestinian gunmen from his Palestine Liberation Front.

Target Was Military Base

The gunmen, Abbas said, were initially set to attack an Israeli military base after the Achille Lauro called at an Israeli port during its Mediterranean cruise.

But the guerrillas panicked after weapons were found in their cabin and they seized the ship. During the 51-hour hijacking, which ended at Port Said in Egypt, one of the gunmen shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer, 69, of New York City, and pushed him overboard.

American jet fighters later intercepted an Egyptian plane carrying Abbas and the hijackers, forcing it to land in Italy. But Italian authorities let Abbas go, saying they lacked evidence to hold him.

Abbas, a military aide and the four gunmen were convicted by the Italian courts last July of murder and hijacking. Abbas was one of three defendants convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in prison.

Wanted in U.S., Italy

The guerrilla leader, whose nom de guerre is Abul Abbas, is wanted in Italy and the United States.

“If I had not personally intervened quickly, a catastrophe would have occurred,” Abbas said in an interview at the Club des Pins conference complex.

Abbas, who boarded the ship after the hijacking, has maintained that his role was to negotiate an end to the piracy.

The Palestine National Council, or parliament-in-exile, has been in session in Algiers since Monday to draft a new PLO policy and end a four-year split between moderates and radicals.

‘Tactical Error’

“There was a tactical error in the Achille Lauro affair,” Abbas insisted, but he would not elaborate. Abbas said his PLF’s policy is only to strike Israel, “never to undertake terrorist attacks or kill innocent people.”

He said that this policy remains unchanged and that he would carry out more attacks against Israel “whenever we have an opportunity.”

Abbas recently has lived in Baghdad, Iraq.