Abu Jihad had previously been assigned the responsibility of the Palestinian territories within the PLO command and, according to biographer Said Aburish, had "impressive knowledge of local conditions" in the Israeli-occupied territories.
Abu Jihad sebelumnya ditugaskan sebagai pemimpin komando PLO di wilayah Palestina dan menurut biografer Said Aburish, mempunyai "pengetahuan luar biasa mengenai kondisi setempat" dalam wilayah-wilayah yang dikuasai Israel.