Salah Musbah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) was born on the 31st of August 1933, in the coastal city of Jaffa. His family was from Gaza and moved to Jaffa where Abu Iyad’s father was employed at the Jaffa Land Registration Department.
Abu Iyad spent his childhood and adolescence in Jaffa. He attended the Al-Marwaniya School, where he completed his elementary and preparatory school education. During that time, Abu Iyad learned about the nature of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Zionist organizations that were active among the Jews in Jaffa.
When just a child, he joined the Ashbal An Najada – a Palestinian organization that sought to resist the British colonization and Zionist intentions in Palestine. Due to the shortage of weapons, the organization trained its members using wooden rifles.
Abu Iyad experienced detention for the first time when he was 12 years old. In November 1945, a police force of the British Mandate Government raided his family home and arrested him on charges of assaulting a Jewish student.
Under open fire by armed Zionist forces, Abu Iyad, his family and other Palestinians were displaced from Jaffa on the 13th of May 1948. Fleeing from terrorist attacks launched by the Zionist organizations, they sailed in a small boat that almost capsized during their journey to Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea. Two days later, the State of Israel was proclaimed.
Abu Iyad and his family lived under harsh conditions in Gaza. He had to work to help sustain his family. While in secondary school, he was also active in student-led national activity.
In 1952, Abu Iyad left for Egypt and enrolled in Arabic language studies at Al-Azhar University, and was actively involved in the students’ movement. In 1954, Abu Iyad met Yasser Arafat, who was then Chairman of the Palestinian Students’ Association. Abu Iyad became an active member of the Association, after Yasser Arafat’s graduation in 1955, took over the chairmanship of the Association.
In 1955, Abu Iyad withdrew from the Muslim Brotherhood and established the Revolutionary Front of the Armed Struggle to confront Israel.
In 1956, Abu Iyad obtained the High Certificate in Arabic Language and returned to Gaza, where he taught Arabic language and philosophy at the Al- Zahra’ Girls School and Khaled Bin Al-Walid Boys School.
Abu Iyad went on to earn a Diploma in Education and Psychology from ‘Ein Shams University in Egypt in 1958.
On 13 July 1959, Abu Iyad married a cousin. They had six sons and daughters.
In 1959, Abu Iyad traveled to Kuwait where he worked as a teacher. There, he met with Yasser Arafat and Khalil Al-Wazir and joined the effort to build the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), which had just been established.
Although Abu Iyad continued to work as a teacher in Kuwait, he was an active member of Fatah. At that time, Fatah recruited independent Palestinian revolutionary cells throughout the Arab countries, and was in the process of completing preparations to launch the armed struggle against Israel.
In 1967, Abu Iyad devoted his time and efforts to the struggle within the framework of the Fatah movement. He chaired the first security agency of the Palestinian Revolution, then-called the Revolutionary Monitoring Agency.
On the 21st of March 1968, Abu Iyad joined the Palestinian Revolution Forces and participated in the confrontation with the Israeli army forces in the battle at Al-Karamah in Jordan.
By 1969, Abu Iyad was publicly known as a member of the Fatah Central Committee. He was also the Security Commissioner of Fatah.
In 1970 and 1971, Abu Iyad participated in battles to defend the Palestinian Revolution in Jordan, during which he was arrested by the Jordanian authorities. With his companions in the Palestinian Revolution, Abu Iyad moved to Lebanon.
After the Palestinian Revolution Forces had left Jordan, a widespread rumor reported that Abu Iyad had organized the Black September organization, which carried out several operations, most notably, the Munich operation, which targeted members of Israeli Olympic team in West Germany. However, Abu Iyad denied his relationship with Black September.
During his stay in Lebanon between 1971 and 1982, Abu Iyad established a strong security agency of the Palestinian Revolution. He devoted his efforts and relationships to consolidate the collection of security and intelligence information. In the context of the PLO-led struggle, Abu Iyad also built a network of significant working relationships with a number of intelligence agencies around the world.
Abu Iyad participated in leading operations to defend the Palestinian Revolution during the Lebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1982, and survived several assassination attempts.
With Yasser Arafat, Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) and Sa’dSayel (Abu al Walid), Abu Iyad led the Palestinian Revolution Forces during the 1982 Israeli siege on Beirut. He left Beirut in August 1982.
Abu Iyad later returned to Lebanon and confronted the dissidents. With Syrian support, the dissidents besieged Abu Iyad, Yasser Arafat and Khalil Al- Wazir in Tripoli in the autumn of 1983. On the 19th of December 1983, Abu Iyad left Tripoli by sea.
Along with the PLO leadership, Abu Iyad settled in Tunisia and remained responsible for the security agencies of the Palestinian Revolution.
The Israeli Intelligence Agency (Mossad) made many, unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Abu Iyad. Hamzah Abu Zeid, an agent of the dissident Sabri al Banna (Abu Nidal) group, murdered Abu Iyad, Fatah Central Committee member Hayel Abu Hamid (Abu Al-Hol), and the director of Abu Iyad’s office, Fakhri Al- ‘Umari. Abu Iyad was assassinated at a critical time, as the situation in Kuwait was intensifying. Two days after Abu Iyad was killed, the first Gulf War erupted.
