The Last Genet by Laroche Hadrien; Homel David; Homel David

Author:Laroche, Hadrien; Homel, David; Homel, David
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: biography, book
ISBN: 619103
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
Published: 2010-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

Now the question must be asked. What other event might be hiding behind the story of that particular day in Beirut? In other words, as Genet put it, “Why did I have to write about the murder after describing the Saïka soldiers’ long hair?”

It seems easy to travel from Beirut to Munich, taking the route indicated by Genet. But the journey carries its share of weight. Surprisingly, De Quincey himself indicated the possibilities in his essay: “Riding one day in the neighborhood of Munich, I overtook a distinguished amateur of our society, whose name, for obvious reasons, I shall conceal.” 14 The name of Daoud; the mention of the six Israelis charged with the Beirut operations as athletes; the general unexpected and exemplary tone of the text as a secret—all these encourage us to journey with Genet on German soil.

What is the name De Quincey has chosen to hide for obvious reasons—or rather, who is the man Genet met whom he calls Daoud the tale-teller? Abu Daoud, using the name Saad ad-Din Wali, along with Abu Iyad and Fakhri al Amari, is considered to be the mastermind of the September 5, 1972 attack on Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympic Games.

The code name of this attack, more down to earth but with echoes that live on today, was “Irkit and Birim,” the names of two Arab villages occupied since 1948. Daoud bought the weapons in Sofia, put them in the Saudi Olympic installation that was next to the Israeli delegation, and made the hotel reservations for the Palestinian commandos. He left Munich before the attacks began. Who were the three men assassinated in Beirut? Abu Yussef (also known as Muhammad Yusif al-Najjar) and Kamal Nasir were both members of Fatah, and Kamal Udwan was one of the chiefs of Black September, the organization behind the Munich attack. Three times two couples in Beirut? The Palestinian commando was composed of six men in Munich. Did they receive medals, these golden athletes? Nine Israelis were taken hostage. In all, in Munich, eleven Jewish athletes and coaches were murdered: David Berger, Ze’ev Friedman, Yossef Gutfreund, Eliezer Halfin, Yossef Romano, Amitzur Shapira, Kehat Shorr, Mark Slavin, André Spitz, Yacov Springer, and Moshe Weinberg.

Youth without spring, since the attacks of Irkit and Birim took place in September. Did Genet speak of Munich? He explicitly named “Daoud Thalami, one of the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.” Were Daoud the tale-teller, Abu Daoud, Daoud Thalami, and Saad ad-Din Wali one and the same? Listening keenly, earlier in the last book, we can read this warning: “Kamal Udwan […] I’ll tell later on how they were killed by Israelis pretending to be queers, perhaps in retaliation for the murders in Munich during the 1972 Olympics.”15 It’s all been written.

We have to wait until 1992 to read what Genet wrote about Munich. He did it in a text that was not included in The Declared Enemy, his political writings; it is called “Les Palestiniens II.

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