AL-CHIR, HUSSEIN ABAD.A member of Black September Organi-
zation, Al-Chir served as liaison between the Palestine Liberation Or-
ganization and the Soviet KGB in Cyprus. He was targeted for elim-
ination by Committee Xafter the 1972 Munich massacre. He was
sighted in the Cyprus capital Nicosia, where he resided at the
Olympic Hotel, while immersed in preparations for a terror attack. It
was decided to preempt him, but the Mossadoperatives faced a prob-
lem: an explosive device placed in his hotel room large enough to en-
sure his death might injure innocent guests in neighboring rooms, and
on the floor above and below. Accordingly the decision was made to
make do with a small bomb, in relatively open space, and this
worked. The man got into bed without noticing the bomb—small in-
deed, but powerful enough to kill him. This occurred on 24 January- See also TERRORISM.
ALIYAH BETH.See MOSSAD LE’ALIYAH BETH.ALPER, YOSEF (YOSSI).A former senior Mossadofficial and past
director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studiesat Tel Aviv Uni-
versity, Alper is one of the most highly respected strategic analysts on
the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He served as a senior
adviser to Israeli prime minister Ehud Barakduring the Camp David
summit (2000). In collaboration with Ghassan Khatib, minister of la-
bor in the Palestinian Authority, he has created an Israeli-Palestinian
Internet dialogue at http://www.bitterlemons.org.AMAN.See MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.AMIAD COMMISSION.A commission of inquiry formed in 1958 by
the Israel Defense Forces and the Mossadto investigate the manner
in which members of the Jewish spy network in Egypt were activated
and later betrayed (1954). The commission was created due to contra-
dictions that had emerged in the questioning of Avraham (Avri) Elad.
The commission was chaired by Colonel Ariel Amiad and was ac-
cordingly known as the Amiad Commission. Its two other members
were Lieutenant Colonel Meir Steinberg and Zvi Aharoni of the in-
vestigation section of the Israeli Security Agency. The commission
focused on the suspicion that it was Elad who had betrayed the net-8•AL-CHIR, HUSSEIN ABAD06-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 8