An Icon or a Criminal? The Legacy of Therese Halsa and Sabena Flight 571
By: Nathan Matsko
The incident aircraft at Heathrow on 7 June 1976. Photo by Steve Fitzgerald
Bellefonte — Asking someone who Therese Halsa is may spawn a variety of answers, depending on who you ask. For many Palestinians, she was almost mythical — an icon, a representation of the Palestinian spirit. To Israelis, a dangerous terrorist working with a group of killers.
Therese Halsa was born outside the coastal city of Acre in 1954 to Arab Christian parents. While a nursing student in Nazareth, Halsa quickly took an interest in politics, joining the Israeli Communist Party, or Maki. Her exposure to pro-Palestinian voices, which found refuge in Maki, as well as witnessing a growing anti-Arab sentiment within Israel spurred her to support the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
Soon Therese traveled to Lebanon to train with the PLO. Before she knew it, the seventeen-year-old had been chosen for an assignment in May of 1972 with Black September, the notorious Palestinian group which would go on to commit the Munich Massacres at the Olympic Games on September 5th of that same year.
On a hot May day, Halsa, along with Ali Taha Abu Snina, Abed Al-Aziz Atrash, and Rima Tannous boarded Sebena Flight 571 departing Vienna bound for Tel Aviv.
The group, armed with handguns, grenades and explosive belts, forced the plane to land in Lod at what is now Ben Gurion International Airport. Once on the ground, the group moved all Jewish passengers to the back of the plane and placed their demands — Israel would release the few hundred Palestinian prisoners it had in custody in exchange for the safe departure of all the passengers, threatening to blow up the plane should their demands go unmet.
The standoff would last nearly thirty hours. While it seemed like Israeli officials were negotiating, a raid by highly-trained commandos disguised as airplane technicians was being organized and soon to be underway.
The raid, led by the future Prime Minister Ehud Barak, with a team that also included current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saw both male hijackers killed and the capture of Rima and Therese, with one passenger killed in the crossfire. Netanyahu was also injured in the raid, though conflicting reports about how he received those wounds are rampant. Israel has maintained that his injuries were a result of friendly fire, while Pro-Palestinian sources claim that Therese wounded him.
Therese received a year in jail for every hostage taken, resulting in over 200 years in prison for the then 18-year old. She remained imprisoned for nearly twelve years, until she was released in a prisoner swap between the PLO and Israel in 1983 following the events of the first Lebanese Civil War.
After her release, she maintained her support for the Palestinian cause, though lived out the majority of the rest of her days in Amman. She died March 28th of this year due to complications with an ongoing bout with cancer.
The legacy left behind by Therese Halsa is incredibly divisive.
For Israelis, the raid on Sabena flight 571 has since been lauded as an example of Israeli military prowess. Right-wing outlets based in Israel are quick to label her a terrorist.
While her legacy remains contentious, Halsa never showed any regret for her actions, even stating in a Guardian interview that she wishes they had blown up the plane, believing that Americans and Europeans would be forced to give the situation in Palestine more attention. Despite this assessment, Therese was remembered by hostages as being incredibly friendly, not wanting to scare the passengers. Therese’s true intentions and feelings will be assumed for years to come, but regardless of how she is remembered, her place in history is solidified, one way or the other.