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February 23, 1968 - Image 22

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1968-02-23

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

El Fatah Terrorists Meet Firm Resistance

(Continued from Page 1)
front line areas he found most
Jordanians in possession of "rifles
and a few rounds of ammunition.")
Israel's Treasury has made its
first payment to settlements in
the Jordan Valley to cover dam-
age inflicted by Jordanian ar-
tillery during last week's clashes.
Under Israeli law, frontier settle-
ments are entitled to full indemni-
fication from the government for
damage suffered as a result of
enemy action. The damage is esti-
mated at more than $100,000.
Measures to strengthen the
defenses of settlements in the
Jordan Valley from attacks by
infiltrators were announced Wed-
nesday by Defense Minister
Moshe Dayan. He said that more
guards, lighting and shelters
would be provided to settlements
there, particularly in the Behan
area which has been bearing the
brunt of the infiltration attacks
and has been most exposed to
shelling from the East Bank of
the Jordan.
Gen. Dayan told parliament .
Tuesday night, in response to a
question, that he did not favor
imposition of the death penalty on
convicted infiltrators, holding that
it would not strengthen the coun-
try's security.
(He said that there was no con-
nection between the disappearance
off Cyprus of the Israeli submarine
Dakar on its first passage from
Portsmouth to Haifa and the simul-
taneous disappearance of the
French submarine Minerve off the
French Mediterranean coast.
(The defense minister disclosed
in response to another question
that deferment from military ser-
vice had been granted to 4,500
Yeshiva students in 1966 and about
5,000 in 1967.)
Amman newspapers headlined an
announcement by Interior Minister
Hassan Al Kayed that Jordanian
security forces seized two large
arms caches near Aqaba. Jordan's
only seaport, which is adjacent to
the Israeli port of Eilat on the
Gulf of Aqaba. The newspapers
also reported that a hunt is on for
the leaders and members of the
Syrian-trained El Fatah gangs
that have used Jordan for months
as a base for raids against Israel.
At one point, a mob almost lynch-
ed suspected El Fatah members as
they were being led to a police
station, eye-witnesses said. There
were no other reports of arrests.
(Reports from Beirut, Leba-
non, said the El Fatah terrorist
organization has announced that
it will defy King Hussein's anti-
terrorist decrees and that it
would allow no regime to halt
guerrilla raids on Israel. Ac-
cording to the dispatch, an El
Fatah spokesman in Damascus
said "the objective of Fatah has
been and still is to operate in
occupied lands for the liberation
of Palestine.")
The arms discovered at Aqaba,
probably concealed there for future
use against Israel by El Fatah,
consisted of 250 machine guns,
some anti-tank weapons and large
quantities of ammunition.
Chief of Staff Brigadier Chaim
Bar-Lev briefed the cabinet about
the security situation and Gen.
Dayan reported on last week's
fighting along the Israel - Jordan
border following Jordanian shell-
ing of Israeli settlements there.
Gen. Dayan informed the cabinet
that he canceled his visit to the
United States last week because of
security reasons. His visit may
take place later but no dates have
been set, it was learned.
The family reunion plan to al-
low refugees who fled from the
West Bank during the Six-Day
War to return home was resum-
ed Monday for the first time in
three weeks without supervision
by the International Red Cross.
Two Red Cross supervisors had
been wounded during a clash on
the Allenby Bridge between Is-
raeli and Jordanian soldiers. Fol-

22 Friday, February 23, 1968



lowing the incident, the Red
Cross announced that it would
not resume supervision of the
bridge crossings because safety
of its personnel had not been as-
sured by both sides. Israel then
proceeded alone and contacted
Jordanian authorities directly to
arrange for resumption of the
reunion plan.
Sixty persons crossed the bridge
into Israel Monday and regular
crossings are expected to take
place on Mondays and Thursdays
as was done prior to the clash.
Three truckloads of grain, the first
officially sanctioned imports from
Jordan into Israel-occupied terri-
tory, arrived on the West Bank
Monday. Israel has permitted mer-
chants in Judaea and Samaria to
import goods from Jordan subject
to normal Israeli customs duties.
Two West Bank Arab judges
who were appointed to the
bench by the Israeli military
government, have barred Israeli
lawyers from appearing in the
courts of Hebron and Bethlehem.
The lawyers may appeal to a
higher court, but the military gov-
ernment is not interfering. The
judges contend that their action
was based on the military govern-
ment's decree that Jordanian laws
are valid only on the West Bank,
except those specifically rescinded.
Under Jordanian law, Israeli law-
yers cannot appear in court.

Hussein that he cannot enforce his
rule on terrorist organizations.
King Hussein followed his ap-
peal for a cease fire with an ad-
dress Friday over the Amman
Radio. He promised to halt terror-
ist raids into Israel and Israeli-
held territory, the principal cause
of the Thursday clash, and to
punish intruders who ignored his
orders. "As of today, I shall not
allow anyone to supply the enemy
with pretexts and justifications for
aggression,' the king told his
people. He was strongly backed by
Jordanian Prime Minister Bahjat
Altahuni, who declared in a speech
Saturday that the Jordanian army
would end all cooperation with ter-
rorist gangs.
Jordan reportedly warned Syria,
which provides training bases for

Marauders Strike Again
at Several Settlements
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire

to The Jewish News)

TEL AVIV—A hand-grenade ex-
plosion damaged an Israeli truck
in Gaza Tuesday night. No casual-
ties were reported. In turn, Israeli
military authorities in the Gaza
Strip blew up three houses in Raf-
fah, where officers of the Pales-
tine Liberation Army were found
sheltered. Three other houses in
Gaza were wrecked by army en-
gineers after the occupants were
found guilty of collaborating with
terrorists.
A terrorist raid at Kibutz Na-
hal Golan in the Golan Heights
late Tuesday night resulted in
the injury of a 19-year-old girl
soldier, whose leg was amputat-
ed because of wounds she sus-
tained when a bazooka shell ex-
ploded in the kibutz kitchen.
Army engineers revealed Wed-
nesday morning that an anti-ve-
hicle mine was found at a cross-
road leading to the kibutz, which
is situated one kilometer from the
border in the southern section of
the Golan Heights.
An explosion in the kibutz area
was heard at 9 p.m. Tuesday night
and was immediately followed by
bursts of automatic fire coming
from two positions apparently to
cover the retreat of the terrorists.
The Israelis returned the gunfire,
and fighting lasted for 10 min-
utes. Shortly thereafter, the in-
jured girl was found in the kitchen
and was immediately transported
to a hospital, where doctors de-
cided to amputate.
Army units arriving at the scene
combed the area between the kibutz
and the borderline. A report said
that 10 terrorists, two of which
formed a bazooka team, attacked
while the others took positions
outside of the kibutz perimeter to
insure the bazooka team's retreat.
Marauders from Jordan Tues-
day damaged a water pump sta-
tion at Neot Hakikar in the first
incident since Israel's action
against Jordan last week, an
army spokesman said Wednes-
day morning. Neot Hakikar is
an experimental farm situated
at the southernmost tip of the
Dead Sea.
At 1:15 a.m. the pumping sta-
tion north of the settlement was
blown up and a number of fuel
barrels were also destroyed. Foot-
prints of five persons leading to
the Jordanian border were dis-
covered after the incident.
Israeli circles were of the opinion
Wednesday that it is possible this
attack took place to prove to King

GEN. DAYAN

the El Fatah terrorists, not to send
through Jordanian territory guer-
rillas bound for Israel. That warn-
ing was issued by Jordanian In-
terior Minister Hassan al-Kayed, in
an address at the Jordanian town
of Irbid during a visit to towns hit
in the Thursday fighting. The Jor-
danian minister did not mention
Syria by name, according to re-
ports here, but his allusion was
clear. According to Amman Radio,
he said that the Jordanian govern-
ment "will not permit Jordan to
be used as a passage for the im-
plementation of designs by those
who, like us, have borders" with
Israel "but who do not have
enough courage to bear the res-
ponsibility of the consequences of
their action."
The cease fire was arranged
through the United States em-
bassy in Tel Aviv since there are
no United Nations observers on
the Jordan River demarcation
line. Contact with Jordan appar-
ently was established through a
neutral third country, reported-
ly with U.S. State Department
approval. Israel agreed only
after Jordan undertook to ob-
serve a total cessation of shoot-
ing all along the demarcation
line, authoritative military
sources reported.
Israel's heavy counter-fire Thurs-
day followed pointed warnings from
Jerusalem to Jordan to desist from
its support of terrorist raids. It
was reported that warnings were
passed on to Jordan not only
through Lt. Gen. Odd Bull, chief
of the UN cease-fire observers,
but also through a direct emissary
of Premier Levi Eshkol, reported
to be a former Jordanian cabinet
member named Mussa Nasser.
However, the former cabinet minis-
ter declined to comment when he
was asked by the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency about his reported
role.
Israel kept the United Nations
informed, on an almost hour-by-
hour basis, of Jordanian attacks
and its responses. On Thursday
alone, Israel sent three notes in
succession to the president of the
Security Council, one note advis-
ing that "it became necessary in
self-defense to employ aircraft"
against Jordanian artillery.
Prior to the cease-fire, Hussein
was sent personal assurances by
Presidents Nasser of Egypt and
Aref of Iraq of "full military sup-
port." Iraqi units in Jordan were
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS reported to have been moved up

to the cease-fire line. Offers were
sent to Jordan of fighters and
bombers from Egypt and Syria.
Jordan has had no operational air
force since the June war.
Israel acted to restore normal
conditions -on the border. The gov-
ernment said it wanted to resume
the family reunion program for
Arabs which was halted last month
when Jordanian troops fired on
Israeli soldiers at the Allenby
Bridge over the Jordan River and
wounded two representatives of the
International Red Cross, which had
supervised the crossover of the
Arabs. Israel notified Jordan that
it was willing to accept relatives
of West Bank residents from Jor-
dan whose questionnaires had been
approved, without the presence of
the Red Cross, which has refused
to continue to oversee the cross-
overs without guarantees of safety
from Jordan.
In the Beisan Valley, the main
target of Jordanian guns and
terrorist raids, Israeli settlers re-
turned to normal routines. Dam-
ages had to be repaired and ter-
rorist mines found and destroy-
ed. Two "old mines" were found
near Ashdod Yaacov and dis-
mantled. On the other side,
peasants were seen returning to
abandoned fields but many vil-
lagers have not returned to their
homes. Many Arab buildings are
"a mass of debris and no attempts
have yet been made to clear the
wreckage. Jordanian gun posi-
tions hit by Israeli fire have not
been re-manned.
Extensive damage and destruc-
tion of cattle was reported from
the Beisan Valley settlements of
Kfar Ruppin and Maoz Chaim, the
first targets of the shelling which
began several hours before dawn.
Kfar Ruppin was struck by mortar
and small arms fire, waking the
settlers who rushed the children
into underground shelters. Jordan-
ian artillery then commenced fir-
ing on Kfar Ruppin and nearby
Maoz Chaim. Israeli forces return-
ed the fire with mortars. About
80 hits were scored on Kfar Rup-
pin where the children's school,
the electric power house and resi-
dential buildings were • severely
damaged. Seventy shells struck
Maoz Chaim, damaging the clinic,
the cowshed, silo and dairy. Six-
teen cows were destroyed in the
bombardment
Jordanians later opened heavy
fire across the border in the Beit
Shan region. They began to shell
Kibutz Gesher and, .a few minutes
later, the village of Beir Yosef.
Kfar Ruppin was shelled again and
fire was also directed against Ash-
dot Yaacov. The Jordanians open-
ed fire on the village of Neve Ur
and began shelling the area of
Kibutz Hammadia.
Gen. Yariv Says Israel Must
Hold Occupied Territories
Until Peace Settlement
NEW YORK (JTA) — General
Aharon Yariv, Israel's military in-
telligence chief, said Tuesday night
that in the absence of a settlement
with the Arabs that would assure
his country's peace and security,
Israel must stick to its resolve to
hold on to captured Arab terri-
tories.
He spoke at the Americana Hotel
to 800 guests attending a United
Jewish Appeal of Greater New
York campaign dinner where he
represented General Moshe Dayan
who was to have been the guest of
honor before the present crisis
along the Jordan River ceasefire
line forced the minister of defense
to postpone a planned visit to the
United States.
'Two of America's most influ-
ential newspapers, the New York
Times and the Washington Post,
have strongly denounced the Ad-
ministration's decision to supply
Jordan with arms, particularly
the F-104 supersonic Starfighter
jets, which were promised King
Hussein last week. The news-
papers reflected a rising chorus
of protests in both Houses of
Congress against renewed arms
shipments to Jordan.
The Times declared editorially

that by shipping arms to Jordan,
the United States would "join the
Russians and the French in cyni-
cal subversion" of the peace-seek-
ing mission of United Nations en-
voy, Ambassador Gunnar Jarring,
to which the United States has
pledged support. The Post, in an
editorial published Friday, warned
that the United States would be
"increasing tension and accelerat-
ing the arms race between the
Arabs and Israel" by sending wea-
pons to King Hussein.
Congressmen Hit Decision
to Supply Arms to Jordan
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The ad-
ministration's decision to ship new
weapons to Jordan at a time when
Jordanian guns are shelling Israeli
settlements came under strong cri-
ticism in Congress. In a House
speech, Rep. William F. Ryan,
New York Dem., asked: "for what
earthly purpose would Jordan use
tanks and jets except against Is-
rael?" He said the State Depart-
ment appeared to have "learned
nothing whatever" from the Six-
Day War last June and he attacked
the Executive Department espe-
cially for "quietly" training Jordan
airmen here since June. Rep. Ryan
called for the immediate termina-
tion of training of Jordanian pilots
in Texas.
Rep. Seymour Halpern, New
York Rep., charged that "it can
only encourage Arab belligerence
and intransigence to send more
tanks, guns, and ammunition to
Jordan at the very moment they
are firing brutal barrages into Is-
rael. It is a mockery to announce
that stupid new decision is deemed
essential to the stability of the
area."
An administration promise was
given to Gen. Amer Khamash,
the Jordanian chief of staff, to
expedite shipment of American
tanks, artillery, planes and other
military equipment, it was learn-
ed, and it appeared likely that
shipment of F-104 Starfighter jet
fighters, ordered by Jordan be-
fore the June war, would begin
soon. Gen. Khamash has just
concluded a secret three-week
visit here.
Jordan also is requesting 155
mm. heavy artillery—a long-range
weapon that threw shells as far as
Tel Aviv during the June war. It
also wants 105 mm. cannon and
tanks to replace the 106 Patton
M-48s Jordan claims Israel des-
troyed or captured in the war. De-
livery of the tanks and artillery
to Jordan may be made from sur-
plus stocks at American installa-
tions in West Germany. This could
permit delivery without delay.
Other equipment scheduled for
shipment to Jordan reportedly in-
cludes armored personnel carriers,
recoilless guns, mortars, ammuni-
tion of various types and military
communications equipment.
Although the State Department
denied congressional charges that
Arab pilots have been getting train-
ing here secretly since June, offi-
cials admitted that 25 of Jordan's
best pilots have been trained tO
fly the F-104s at Lackland and
Webb Air Force bases in Texas.
The State Department said that
the 25 Jordanians being trained
here included mechanics and tech-
nicians.

NCJW to Aid Research
on Teaching Deprived

JERUSALEM (JTA)—A new re-
search center to develop methods
to educate underprivileged children
will be established at Hebrew Uni-
versity here, it was announced by
Professor• Nathan Rotenstreich,
university rector. The center will
be financed by the National Coun-
cil of Jewish Women in thg United
States, which has made an initial
contribution of 1,500,000 Israeli
pounds ($430,000) for the project.
The institution will be the first
in this area to conduct research
exclusively dealing with the prob•
lems of education for the disadvan-
taged. Prof. Rotenstreich said. The
ministry of education is expected
to participate in the project

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