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MAY 6, 1988 / 19 IYAR 5748
Syria Places Troops On Alert
Israeli forces meet with resistance near the Bekaa Valley
as IDF soldiers seek to weed out terrorists
Thousands celebrate Israel's
birthday . . . Page 50.
ENDLESS FLIGHT OF
JERZY KOSINSKI
Jerusalem — The Syrian govern-
ment ordered its military forces on
alert this week as Israel, following its
push into Lebanon, neared the Bekaa
Valley just on the edge of the Syrian
border.
Some 10,000 Syrian soldiers
reportedly were stationed in the
Bekaa Valley, but were told not to fire
unless attacked by Israeli forces.
Reacting to the Syrian alert,
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said
the IDF operation does not signal an
anti-Syria initiative.
"We are not there to go to war
with Syria;' he said, "but simply to
insure the safety and security of our
northern border settlements?'
Shamir termed the operation a
"usual" one and suggested it would
be completed within several days. IDF
troops were said to be evacuating by
Wednesday.
An unconfirmed report suggested
that neither Shamir nor Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres had any
knowledge the troops would operate
so close to Syria. The move apparent-
ly was sanctioned by Defense
Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
IDF soldiers crossed into southern
Lebanon on Monday in a move aim-
ed at cutting down the number of ter-
rorist attacks from Israel's northern
border. Some 500 soldiers of the South
Lebanon Army are working with the
IDF soldiers.
The troops were said to be passing
out flyers which read "If you obey IDF
orders, no harm will come to you," and
searching homes. No casualties were
reported and no prisoners have been
taken captive, but the IDF did meet
with resistance when it overtook the
Lebanese village of Maidun, just
south of the Bekaa Valley.
An NBC report early this week
pegged the number of Israeli troops
in Lebanon at more than 2,000. Israel
officials have repeatedly denied that
figure and set the number of soldiers
at about several hundred.
The IDF move into Lebanon ap-
parently sparked further demonstra-
tions in the West Bank and Gaza as
Palestinian protestors battled with
Continued on Page 20
Women
Cantors
Rejected
New York (JTA) — The Conser-
vative movement's Cantors Assembly
voted Tuesday to reject a move to ad-
mit qualified women members.
The vote was 97-95 against admit-
ting women awarded the degree of
chazzan (cantor) by the Jewish
Theological Seminary's Cantors In-
stitute into the ranks of the world's
largest professional body of cantors.
A two-thirds vote was needed for
the measure to have passed.
The vote took place at the
assembly's 41st annual convention at
Continued on Page 20
With Bev Kagan and
a few other activists
at the helm, the
future of Grand
Rapids' fragmented
Jewish community
looks promising