Terror in Black September: The First Eyewitness Account of the Infamous 1970 Hijackings

On Sunday, September 6, 1970, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four airliners bound from Europe for New York.  One, a brand new Pan Am 747, was taken to Cairo and blown up only seconds after its passengers escaped.  The attempt to hijack a second plane, an El Al flight, was foiled and the plane landed safely in the UK.  Two other planes, one TWA and one Swissair, were directed to the desert floor thirty-five miles northeast of Amman, Jordan, where a twenty-five day hostage drama began.  With the additional hijacking of a British airliner, over four hundred and fifty hostages had landed in the Jordanian desert. David Raab was on the TWA flight with his mother and siblings but was separated from them and taken to a refugee camp and then to an apartment in Amman where he was held hostage through a civil war. This is his story.

DAVID RAAB is Chief of Staff to the President of Touro, a system of Jewish-sponsored non-profit institutions of higher and professional education.  He holds an M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. from the Weizmann Institute (Israel), and a B.A. from Bar Ilan University (Israel).  He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Yeshiva University.  Mr. Raab is actively engaged in Israel and Middle East affairs and has published several articles.  He is married and divides his time between Teaneck, New Jersey, and Raanana, Israel.