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Roman police last week also arrested two other Arabs who arrived at the ( capital's Leonardo da Vinci Airport bearing suitcases, each carrying 7.7 lbs. of plastic explosive. The duo had Moroccan passports similar to those carried by the captured Achille Lauro hijackers. Said Rome Prosecutor Rosario Priore: "We suspect that all these Moroccan passports may be linked. Possibly they come from a single stock made available for terrorist actions."
While Italian authorities continued their investigations, Abbas continued his elusive travels. There was strong evidence that he was in Belgrade at least through Tuesday. Reports at midweek placed him in South Yemen, but the country's Marxist government issued a denial. Other speculation put him in Baghdad, where P.L.O. Leader Arafat was slated to put in an appearance at a meeting of the P.L.O.'s ten-member executive committee. Abbas is also a committee member, but in his case, attendance might not be advisable. Said another P.L.O. executive committee member: "Not even the Israelis could have achieved so much (damage) in so little time. Abbas has a lot to answer for."
U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese wanted Abbas badly. Meese refused to rule out kidnaping as a means of bringing the fugitive Palestinian to justice. The only limitation on U.S. action that Meese acknowledged was "respect for the sovereignty of other nations." That still left Washington the option of taking action in international waters or, once again, in international airspace if Abbas should ever be found there. Said a U.S. intelligence official: "The world is getting very small for Abbas. His days as a free terrorist are numbered."
A curious world was given a peek at some of the evidence that his enemies claim to have against Abbas. On Wednesday evening, Ehud Barak, chief of Israel's military intelligence department, appeared on television. He played a tape recording in Arabic of the radio conversations that served to back the American and Israeli claim that Abbas was involved in the hijacking. There was nothing beyond the Israeli assertion to show that the tape was genuine. A man identified as Abbas, but referring to himself by the nom de guerre Abu Khaled, could be heard talking of "our objective" to the hijackers aboard the Achille Lauro. The conversation, with much static in the background, was somewhat cryptic, but at least seemed to indicate that Abu Khaled knew the hijackers personally. Said he: "Listen to me well. First of all, the passengers should be treated very well. In addition, you must apologize to them and the ship's crew, and to the captain, and tell them our objective was not to take control of the ship." Both the hijackers and their parent organization, the P.L.F., later issued an apology along those lines.
The Israeli revelations were broadcast the day before Prime Minister Shimon Peres arrived in Washington for a three-day visit with President Reagan and other U.S. officials. Said a senior Israeli official with satisfaction: "This meeting could not have happened at a better time." The Israelis were hoping to drive home their contention that Arafat's P.L.O. was associated with the recent terrorist acts, and therefore should be dealt out of the Middle East peace process. Peres apparently found a sympathetic ear. Said a senior U.S. official: "This time Arafat has shot himself in the foot with both barrels."