The Wrong Datsun

The Middle Eastern "war of the spooks" is now a three-cornered battle. Not only are Israeli agents and Palestinian guerrillas zapping one another in an underground duel, but Jordanian operatives have joined in.

In a residential area of Beirut largely inhabited by Palestinians, a garaged Datsun suddenly exploded in a shower of metal. The owner could not under stand why, but the police could. In the same garage stood another Datsun owned by Ziad Helou, one of four men identified as the assassins who shot down Jordanian Premier Wasfi Tell out side the Cairo-Sheraton Hotel in 1971 .

Tell, whose death seems in retrospect to have been a major turning point in the evolution of Palestinian violence, had been appointed by King Hussein to restore royal authority and enforce law-and-order on the refugee guerrillas. He did just that, ruthlessly executing guerrillas as he went, and thus marking himself for eventual assassination. His death was the first appearance of the now notorious Black September terrorists.

The four assassins, never brought to trial, were quietly released a year ago by Egyptian authorities. Now, apparently, Jordanian vigilantes are after them. The would-be avengers were so inexpert, however, that they not only timed their bomb wrong but tucked it under the wrong Datsun. At least Helou assumed so. He cried publicly for the Lebanese government to protect him from "acts of sabotage by the Jordanian, American and Israeli intelligence departments."

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