Ma'alot Report: Na Alternative but to Storm the Schoolhouse ,f1.574 VW, f T FINE ) ITALIAN FOOD *if ♦ By YITZHAK SHARGIL and DAVID LANDAU Closed July 22 thru Aug.13 • AIR CONDITIONE •CLOSED MON. 8 TUES. •FREE PARKING ■ 111 4' 18 100 W West 10 M i le Roa d, corne r Sou t h fie ld Rd. 55 9-4 2 3• b / ■ e , e . \ i DIN N ER . . . Inc lu des Ou r Fam ou s Sa la d Ba r . . . A LWAY S FR E SH — A LWAY S GOOD FRE SH F ISH. YO U 9, WE RI N G D AY B E AC H bA , FRESH F IS H . . . L U NCH o r ‘- / 119 1'N4 e pellS ii Call 579-9720 3485 MITCHELL% Blk. W. of Gratiot TEL AVIV (JTA) — The Horev Committee report on the Ma'alot massacre, re- leased Wednesday, absolved the army, police and school authorities of blame for the deaths of 21 Israeli high school students, three mem- bers of a family and a soldier at the hands of ter- rorists in the Ma'alot school- house May 15. The report, submitted to the Knesset, found that the cabinet in Jerusalem was not in possession of all the facts when it was called on to make fateful decisions dur- ing the 12-hour ordeal. But the report's conclusion was that the decision to storm the building in an at- tempt to save the young hos- tages' lives was — based on information subsequently ob- tained — the only decision that could have been taken under the circumstances. The committee's report of- fered a series of recommen- dations for dealing with similar incidents in the f u t u r e. Premier Yitzhak Rabin told the Knesset that his government has already implemented some of them and would implement others. The report's only serious criticism was of the behavior of adults — teachers and guides — who escaped from the Ma'alot school building when the armed terrorists burst in, leaving their charges to their fate. The education ministry announced later that it would decide whether to bring those in- volved before a disciplinary court. The report disclosed that the leader of the three-day Independence Day camping trip that ended in tragedy possessed arms but left them in a car outside the Ma'alot school building because of regulations prohibiting carry- ing arms in populated areas. As a result, the children and their guides had no weapons when they were surprised by the terrorists. Public interest in the re- port focused on the role of LET VIE -••• PLACE (..RIBS CATER YOUR NEXT PARTY OFFICE, HOME CLUBHOUSE, ETC. 24545 W. 12 MILE, Blk. West of Telegraph 355-24401 Pizza, Perch, Ribs, Spaghetti, etc. CA,' 1 -11-im BANQUET FACILITIES AVAILABLE 535-6090 r • •=. FA RION SHOW EVERY THURS., 12:30 P.M. NOW APPEARING NOVIOWWWWW* )rw7-7:77POPULAR AND ENTERTAINING LENNY SCHICK & TRIO 4( NIGHTLY 24502 W. 7 MILE Rd., 3 Blks. W. of Telegraph former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who flew to Ma'alot in the early hours of May 15 and remained on the scene throughout the day. It was Dayan who fed information back to the cabinet room in Jerusalem. But he and Chief of Staff Gen. Mordechai Gur never saw a letter from the terror- ists spelling out their con- ditions for release of the hostages. Both, however, acknowl- edged that they knew of the letter, if not its contents, but deemed it irrelevant because it had been prepared days before in Beirut. The Horev Committee found that if the contents of the letter been made available to the cabi- net, the latter could have only come to the conclusion that it was hopeless to try to negotiate a deal with the terrorists. The demands were totally unacceptable, did not guar- antee the safety of all the hostages, and the only alter- native was to revert to the military option, which was eventually done, the 50-page Horev report said. But it might have been done earlier had the govern- ment been in possession of the terrorists' demands, the committee found. Whether earlier action would have saved lives remains moot. Dayan told the Knesset Wednesday that the cabinet had never decided to accede to the Ma'alot terrorists' de- mands. The decision (which he opposed) was to agree to a simultaneous exchange of prisoners for hostages — which the Ma'alot men were not offering. The latter's offer involved letting the 20 imprisoned ter- rorists fly to Damascus while leaving the hostages to the mercies of the Ma'alot ter- rorists. Basically, this was always their position, Dayan said. There had been various variations, and all of them had been brought before the cabinet. This difference between what Israel was prepared to agree to and what the terror- ists were demanding was the key to the whole episode, Dayan said. The report had omitted a vital half-sentence, "I hope not intentionally," Dayan said: He had told the cab- inet the school could be stormed, but (and this was omitted) he had stressed he could not guarantee there would not be casualties. Dayan reiterated his view that there must never be surrender to terrorists who hold hostages — no matter what the age or condition of the hostages. This ought to be a cardinal precept which the Knesset should determine once and for all, he said. Dayan stressed, though, that while he had disagreed with the cabinet's decision to try and negotiate, he would never have ordered the use of force without full authorization from the cab- inet. The report was prepared by a three-man panel ap- pointed by former Premier Golda Meir, consisting of Gen. (Ret) Amos Horev, president of the Haifa Tech- nion, and two distinguished jurists, Moshe Unna and Erwin E. Shimron. It found that the terrorist infiltrators had not planned to seize the Ma'alot schoolhouse but came upon it and the sleeping youngsters by sheer accident before dawn on May 15 while searching for a vehicle to steal. The report found that the army had knowledge of ter- rorists in the vicinity and was adequately re-enforced but could not seal off the Lebanese border totally. The police, too, were alert but lacked manpower and were not sufficiently reenforced by the local civil guard. The nearest police commander had no telephone in his home. The report found that de- spite its proximity to the Lebanese border, security in Ma'alot was poor and the town was "open" to infiltra- tion. It found that the school authorities had fulfilled their instructions with regard to camping trips. The police were informed and a police permit was issued. But the police in Safed, where most of the youngsters came from, did not notify police stations along the route of the hike. Rabin told the Knesset that his government saw its main task "not to discuss the past but to draw all the lessons implied by the committee's work and its recommenda- tions for the future." He indicated that since his government had not ap- pointed the committee and that none of its actions or decisions had been examined by the panel, it was unneces- sary to discuss or dispute the committee's findings or its criticism of ministers or others involved in the Ma'alot episode. The Horev Committee recommended that a small ministerial body, rather than the entire cabinet, be set up to deal with such emergen- cies in the future. Rabin announced that in compliance with that sug- gestion, a three-man minis- terial team has been estab- lished, consisting of the pre- mier, the minister of defense and the minister of police. They will function as a standing committee when an emergency arises, but it will be up to the premier to de- cide when to convene the group and whether to co-opt any other ministers or offi- cials, Rabin said. He also stated that the committee's recommendation that police manpower be in- creased to cope with terror ist acts and that civil de- fense, volunteer groups and other auxiliary bodies have their roles more clearly de- fined, would be incorporated in the police minister's plan to increase police manpower. Rabin said the education ministry was preparing new guidelines for school outings which define in detail the ob- ligations of adults accom- paning the students. 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