Says Hijackers Slapped, Beat Passengers : Freed Hostage Won’t ‘Forgive or Forget’

Jimmy Dell Palmer, the American hostage released Wednesday in Beirut, said today that he will “never forgive or forget” the two hijackers who seized the TWA airliner on which he was traveling.

He said they murdered an American, slapped and beat passengers, hit him on the neck--possibly with a pistol or grenade--took all the passengers’ belongings and put them in constant fear of their lives.

Palmer made a clear distinction between the two hijackers and the Shia Muslim militiamen now holding the hostages in Beirut. “I’ll never forget, but they never did bodily harm to anybody as the others did,” he said. “They had a cause that they tried to put forth without hurting anybody.”

Palmer spoke at a news conference after being reunited with his wife, Sammie, and relaxing for a day at a London hotel.

The stocky refrigeration mechanic from Little Rock, Ark., was asked to describe life in captivity. “There’s absolutely nothing to do. You sleep a lot, you eat, you drink coffee, you read newspapers, listen to the radio, pray and talk.”

Palmer said he regrets a photograph that appeared in newspapers showing him holding a gun next to a smiling hijacker.

“I tried for 10 minutes to get out of this picture situation. . . . I didn’t even want to touch the damned gun, but they were just insisting on it, and I’m sorry that picture was taken. It’s very misleading indeed,” he said.