Word: airstrips
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...Ever so lightly, Wood brought the 707 down, down, until its huge wheels skimmed along the packed sand and began to turn. Then he eased the wheel forward and set the plane down on the baked desert crust. It held. Gaza One had safely landed at "Revolution Airstrip...
...Popular Front was in a quandary about what to do with the big plane, which had not figured in their plans. Apparently the two skyjackers had seized it on their own initiative. It was too large to land on the desert at Revolution Airstrip. At Beirut, guerrilla demolition experts brought a satchel full of explosives on board. One of them remained in the plane with the two hijackers and began wiring up explosive charges in the cabin and toilets during the flight to Cairo. The P.F.L.P. had decided to blow up the plane in the Egyptian capital as a sign...
...deadline was 10 p.m. E.D.T. on Saturday. The U.S. State Department, which set up a round-the-clock command post in Washington under Middle East Specialist Talcott W. Seelye, stayed in constant touch with its embassy in Amman. But a U.S. official who tried to drive out to the airstrip was turned back, and frequently diplomatic personnel could not even venture into Amman's streets...
Rumors of a possible attack by the U.S. or Israel threw Popular Front commandos into a panic. On Friday afternoon, they suddenly ordered a four-man Red Cross medical team off the airstrip and turned back a Red Cross supply convoy that was on its way to the hostages. Then, while passengers and crew were hustled inside the stifling aircraft, demolition squads wired up explosive charges under the wings of each plane. Popular Front leaders demanded new guarantees from Red Cross negotiators that none of the five nations were contemplating a rescue attack on the airfield. Said Swiss Foreign Minister...
...other Palestinian organizations were eager to gain control over Popular Front actions because of stinging criticism that had been heaped on the hijackers by most Arab governments, including the commandos' usual allies Iraq and Syria. Popular Front officials reluctantly agreed to the evacuation of all hostages from the airstrip and to the release of some women and children from Amman's hotels. They also acquiesced in a firm bargaining position, which had already been worked out by the P.L.O.: to hold only Israelis "with military capability" for a separate deal involving Arab prisoners in Israel. All others could be freed...