The World - News from Nov. 14, 1988

Palestinian guerrilla leader Abul Abbas said he believes U.S. authorities have abandoned efforts to arrest him for allegedly masterminding the October, 1985, hijacking of an Italian cruise ship. A wheelchair-bound American, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot in the head and dumped overboard during the two-day hostage ordeal aboard the Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt. The Reagan Administration dubbed Abbas the world’s most wanted terrorist and offered $250,000 for his arrest. But at the Palestine Liberation Organization meeting in Algiers, Abbas said, “The Americans announced officially that they no longer are planning to capture me . . . that they do not have sufficient proof. . . .” But a U.S. Justice Department official called Abbas “a thug” and said officials would still like to see him brought to justice.