Backdown in Bangkok

It was a gala day in Bangkok. Prince Vajiralongkorn was being invested at Parliament House as heir to the throne of Thailand, and most foreign diplomats, including Israeli Ambassador Rehavam Amir, were among those attending the ceremony. In short, the city's embassies were quiet and relaxed. All, that is, except the Israeli Embassy on Soi Lang Suan ("The Lane Behind the Orchard"). In the hot tropical sun of high noon, two men in leather jackets climbed over the wall enclosing the compound, while two others, well-dressed in dark suits, strolled in through the front gate. Before the guard could raise any alarm, he was staring down the muzzles of submachine guns. The Black September Arab terrorist group, perpetrators of the Munich massacre (TIME, Sept. 18), had struck again.

The four gunmen took control of the embassy and hung a green and white Palestinian flag out a window. The guard and all Thai employees inside the building were promptly set free. But six Israelis, including the Ambassador to Cambodia, Shimon Avimor, were held as hostages. As 500 Thai police and troops surrounded the compound, the terrorists threw out notes listing demands, including the release by Israel of 36 Palestinian prisoners. If the demands were not met within 20 hours, the invaders threatened to blow up the embassy with everyone in it, including themselves.

Watched by several hundred Bangkok citizens who swarmed into the narrow street outside the embassy. Thai, Israeli and Egyptian officials raced to the scene. Thailand's Deputy Foreign Minister Chartichai Choonhaven and Air Chief Marshal Dawee Chullasapya, as well as the Egyptian Ambassador to Bangkok, Mustafa Essawi, entered the embassy to negotiate with the terrorists. Israeli Ambassador Amir remained outside, in direct contact with the Israeli Cabinet in Jerusalem through a hastily installed telex machine.

The terrorists were told that their demands would not be met, but that they would be given safe conduct out of Thailand if they released the hostages. After an hour of talks, they agreed to these terms and were rewarded with a meal of curried chicken and Scotch whisky supplied by the Thai government. At dawn, they left for Cairo on a special Thai International flight, accompanied by the two ranking Thai negotiators and by Essawi. The Egyptian diplomat, in a rare instance of Arab-Israeli cooperation, had clearly played a key role in saving the hostages' lives. Even rarer was the fact that the terrorists had listened to reason. The incident marked the first time that Black Septembrists had backed down.

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