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Special report: Israel and the Middle East

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In this section
Detectives question Sharon over bribe claims

Twins born after 12 years on ice

Mystery cloaks Sharon's intentions

Police question Sharon over bribery scandal

Shelve Israel trade deal, say MPs

Press review: Middle East

What they said about the Gaza Strip settlements

Gaza's settlers dig in their heels

Israel knew Iraq had no WMD, says MP

Second Gaza death to be investigated by Met

Sharon plan to move Jewish Gaza settlers

Tales of Tel Aviv

Comment: A fence built for peace

Linda Grant: Checking on the checkpoints

Sharon orders relocation of Gaza settlements

Obituary

Shlomo Argov

Israeli diplomat whose shooting triggered the invasion of Lebanon

Lawrence Joffe
Tuesday February 25, 2003
The Guardian


Shlomo Argov, Israel's former ambassador to Britain, has died from wounds he received nearly 21 years ago in the London terrorist attack that triggered Israel's invasion of Lebanon. He was 73.

On June 3 1982, Argov was getting into his car after a banquet at the Dorchester hotel in Park lane when three gunmen from the Abu Nidal group appeared from nowhere; one of them, Hussein Ghassan Said, fired a single bullet straight through his head. The ambassador fell into a three-month coma, and somehow survived, but was paralysed and required constant medical attention for the rest of his life.

Not since the slaying of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 has a hit team made war such a likely outcome. At last, the then Israeli defence minister Ariel Sharon had a pretext for his long-planned campaign to eliminate the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and its headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. In his memoirs, Sharon admits that the Dorchester ambush was "merely the spark that lit the fuse".

The next day, Israeli forces bombed PLO arms depots in Lebanon, Palestinian forces retaliated with cross-border Katyusha rocket salvos, and, barely 48 hours later, Israel launched its ill-fated Operation Peace For Galilee. At first, the invasion routed the enemy. But before long, Israelis were fighting in the streets of Beirut itself; and, as civilian casualties mounted, international opprobrium grew.

To make matters worse, within a year Israel faced an additional new foe on its northern border, the indigenous Shi'ite militia Hizbollah. Ultimately, Israeli troops found themselves mired in a foreign country for 18 years.

Precisely what motivated the Dorchester shooting remains a mystery. Far from being PLO agents, it appears that the Palestinian gunmen, eventually convicted, were next planning to kill Nabil Ramlawi, the PLO representative in London.

The terrorist organiser Abu Nidal (obituary, August 20 2002) was clearly behind the attack - one of the assailants still incarcerated in Britain was his cousin, Marwan al-Banna. By targeting Argov, wrote the author Samuel Katz, Abu Nidal wanted to "provoke an Israeli assault on Arafat's fortress, and thereby weaken his two most bitter enemies". But the terrorists' Iraqi paymasters - the third of Argov's would-be assassins, Nawaf al-Rosan, was a Baghdad intelligence colonel - also sought to embroil Israel in a war with Syria that would divert attention from their own reversals in the Iran-Iraq conflict.

Such nefarious international manoeuvres still sadly overshadow the story of a life cut down in its prime. Argov's former deputy, Victor Harel, called him a "diplomatic giant and perfectionist". Another friend and colleague, Elyakim Rubinstein, now Israel's attorney-general, described him as "among the most distinguished and impressive in the foreign service".

Respected for his eloquence, frankness and calm sense of purpose - and a brilliant linguist at ease in English, Spanish or Hebrew - Argov was often cited as a future peacemaker. In a rare moment of lucidity during two decades as a bed-bound invalid, he lambasted the invasion of Lebanon triggered by the attempt on his life. "Israel cannot get entangled in experiments or hopeless military adventures," he said in July 1983. "If those who initiated this war in Lebanon had envisioned the scope of this adventure, it could have saved the lives of hundreds of our best young people."

Argov was born into a family that had lived in Jerusalem for six generations. He took a BA in political science at Georgetown University, Washington, after serving in the Israel defence forces from 1947 to 1950. He also worked part-time at the Israeli embassy in Washington, where he met his future wife, Hava. The couple honeymooned in Scotland in 1953, and maintained a love for the British way of life. Hava nursed Shlomo during his long sojourn at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, but predeceased him last year.

In 1954, Argov took a master's degree in economics and international relations at the London School of Economics (he later became an honorary fellow). His diplomatic career began in 1959, when he was appointed as Israel's consul-general in Nigeria. In 1962, he joined the consulate in New York, before returning to Jerusalem in 1965 as deputy-director of the foreign ministry's American desk. From 1968, he worked in Washington under the then Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Rabin.

In 1971, Argov became Israel's ambassador to Mexico. He returned to Jerusalem in 1974 to help direct his ministry's information department, again serving under Rabin, then prime minister. He became ambassador to the Netherlands in 1977.

The rightwing Israeli leader Menachem Begin appointed Argov ambassador to Britain in September 1979 - a particular tribute, as the two figures represented opposite poles of the political spectrum. While here, Argov won friends during a difficult period in Anglo-Israeli relations. "People simply liked him," recalls Lord Janner, then president of the board of deputies of British Jews. "He had a good sense of humour, and got on even with those who disagreed with him - the perfect attribute of a diplomat."

Putting the case for his country regularly involved Argov in controversy: shortly before he was shot, he was compelled to deny reports that Israel had supplied arms to Argentina during the Falklands conflict. He revealed a quieter side when nurturing Israel's ties with Jewish communities outside London.

As Janner recollects, Argov "sought justice for Israel and good relations with its neighbours", ideas reflected in the collection of his speeches and writings, An Ambassador Speaks Out (1983). Along with the numerous communal lodges and Israeli academic fellowships named in his honour, the book speaks of a career that might have been. He is survived by his daughters Yehudit and Edna, and son Gideon.

Shlomo Argov, diplomat, born December 14 1929; died February 23 2003

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