Counterterrorism: Operation Hydrofoiled

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Near dawn on Jan. 30, explosions rocked the Rodriguez Shipyards at Messina, Sicily. When the smoke cleared, two Palestinian-owned hydrofoil ferries were at the bottom of the harbor. Because the operator of the hydrofoils is known to be a supporter of Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, police at first theorized that the sabotage was the work of an anti-Arafat group. No such luck. Israeli undercover agents made it known last week that they were responsible for the blasts.

Israel, it seems, was convinced that the hydrofoils, each with a capacity of 150 passengers, had been sent to Messina to be fitted with guns and armor plating so they could be used to ferry Fatah guerrillas into the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, from which they were driven by Israeli troops in 1982. The plan, say the Israelis, was for Fatah fighters to make a dash for the Lebanese coast from Cyprus on the high-speed hydrofoils under cover of night. And how did the Israeli spooks who foiled the plan smuggle bombs into Italy? "You just come in as a tourist and bring what you need," said one source. "There are a lot of sophisticated ways of smuggling things in these days."