The Sigonella crisis was one of the most important diplomatic crises between the United States and Italy: which began on 7 October 1985, with the hijacking of the ACIALLE Lauro by 4 Palestinians members of the FLP, continued until 11 October 1985, with the US who accepted the Italian competence to intervene legally against the hijackers.
While the United States immediately claimed their right to intervene, the Italian government led by Bettino Craxi repeatedly reiterated its jurisdiction, being Achille Lauro an Italian flag ship and, therefore, considered as the Italian territory.
40 years later, the episode, reconstructed in a new documentary broadcast on La7, An unprecedented diplomatic incident for Italy and the United States, two historic allies remains: the stall culminated on 11 October 1985, when a cordon of 20 Italian carabinieri and 30 vim avieri of the Vam (placed to protect the plane on which the Palestinian hijackers of the Accelle Lauro traveled) was surrounded by 50 US soldiers of the Delta Force.
The chronology of events: the hijacking of the accelery Lauro
It all began on October 7, 1985, when, at 13:10 (Italian time) a command of 4 Palestinians, embarked with False identities and luggage full of weaponshe seized the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, while he was sailing in Egyptian waters between Alexandria and Porto Said, to divert it to Syria. Over 500 people traveled on board the ship, of which more than Italian: after about 7 hours, the kidnappers, who declared themselves members of the Palestinian liberation front (FLP) were in touch with the authorities to communicate that, in the event that 50 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons had not been freed, they would have started killing the passengers of the ship, starting from the Americans.
At that point the Italian government, led by the Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, was activated immediately: since it is an Italian flag ship, in fact, Achille Lauro was considered part of the Italian territory. In other words, it was the Italian state that had jurisdiction, that is, legal competence to intervene.
The mediation attempts of the Italian government
The Italian action line aimed at a diplomatic approach, with the aim of mediating with the hijackers, offering them the opportunity to escape to an Arab country, provided that crimes against passengers had not been committed: in the night between 7 and 8 October the Margherita operation then started, with the aim of identifying the precise position of the ship.
At 10:30 pm on 7 October the then Foreign Minister, Giulio Andreotti called the leader of the Olp (organization for the liberation of Palestine) Yasser Arafat in Tunis, who denied any involvement of his organization, but made two mediators available to resolve the crisis, including Abu Abbas, founder of the FLP of which the attackers were part. At the same time, Andreotti managed to get in touch with the Egyptian Minister of State Butros Ghali, who assured that Egypt would do everything possible to help the Italian government, a availability then confirmed also by the Tunisian government.
Around midnight, the Italian military machine was still in motion, in the event that it was necessary to resort to an armed intervention to recover the Achille Lauro: the Vittorio Veneto flagship received the order to head towards Egypt, while from the base of Livorno they left on board 4 heavy HH-3F helicopters about 60 paratroopers of the 9th assault battalion “with Moschin”, headed towards the Moschin “. British base of the RAF (Royal Air Force) of Akrotiri, in Cyprus. The United Kingdom, in fact, had authorized its use for all operations relating to the liberation of the ship.
Between 8 and 9 October, the tension continued to grow, with the hijackers who came to kill Leon Klinghoffer, an American citizen of Jewish religion. Initially, however, this crime was kept hidden from the Italian government, who managed to obtain the return of the ship to Porto Said, in Egypt, on 10 October 1985.
The problem is that Klinghoffer was, in fact, of American nationality: this meant that, at this point, the US also could claim their legal competence to protect their citizen and, given the subjects involved, had all their intention.
The hijacking of the Boeing Egyptair towards the NATO Base of Sigonella
Italian mediation aimed to convince the hijackers not to commit any crime against the passengers of the Accella laurel: after the news of the killing of an American citizen, the USA, already involved from the beginning, began to claim their jurisdiction by declaring their intention to arrest and submit the four Palestinian hijackers on trial.
It was decided to transfer the 4 Palestinians to Tunis immediately, where at the time the Olp was located: at 9.15 pm on 10 October 1985 a Boeing 737 of the Egypt Air therefore left the Cairo directed in Tunisia. On board were the 4 Palestinian hijackers, some Egyptian officials, ten armed soldiers and also Abu Abbas (member of the FLP) e Hani Al-Hassan.
During the flight, however, two American F-14s intercepted the Egyptian Boeing and forced it to a forced landing in the NATO base of Sigonella, in Sicily, where two Lockheed C-141 Starlifter (military transport planes) of Delta Force landed (without authorization of the control tower). The choice of Sigonella was not accidental: the US believed that they could not have obtained authorization in the airports of Crete and Cyprus, while the US bases in the United Kingdom were considered too far away for the autonomy of the Boeing Egyptir. The problem is that, even in this case, the Italian government was not asked by the United States.
At 00:16 of 11 October 1985, the real diplomatic crisis opened: the Egyptian Boeing, landed in Sigonella, was immediately surrounded by 20 Italian carabinieri and 30 Avieri in service of the aeronautical surveillance lever (Vam), that is, all the Italian armed forces present in the Sicilian base. But around the Italian cord, placed to protect the plane, a second one was created, consisting of 50 US soldiers of the Delta Force. The scope of this event is still enormous today: Italian armed forces surrounded by US armed forces, a contrast between two historic allies.
The stall was evident: on the one hand, Italy claimed that the case was managed by its judicial system, with a regular trial to decide, if necessary, whether to extract the hijackers in the USA. On the other hand, the Americans considered the question as an international police operation, not recognizing the priority of the Italian legal system and claiming their competence to intervene after the killing of its own citizen.
At 03:30 on 11 October, American president Ronald Reagan called Bettino Craxi, who reiterated the Italian position, confirming that he would not grant the US military to arrest Palestinian hijackers, being crimes in Italian territory and, therefore, under jurisdiction of Italy. At that point, President Reagan took note of this position, prediting the intention of the American government to request the extradition of the four, on the basis of the current treaty between the United States and Ltalia.
After the withdrawal of the American military, the Italian government decided to transfer the Egyptian Boeing to Rome Ciampino airport, escorted by some hunting of the Italian Air Force and took off at 9:30 pm on 11 October 1985. A few minutes later, by Sigonella also took off an American F-14 hunting of the sixth fleet, who tried to interfere with the flight of Italian training, trying to hire the Egyptian plane check. The Italian hunting, however, managed to dissuade him and the F-14 retired.
The four Palestinian hijackers were tried in Italy and sentenced to penalties included between 15 and 30 years in prison. Abu Abbas, considered among those responsible for the hijacking of the Laurochille, was instead sentenced to default (or in his absence) to life imprisonment: on April 15, 2003 he was captured in Iraq by the American army, dying a month later under the US custody.
