Israeli security forces today arrested several West Bank Arabs suspected of being members of the El Fatah gang that attacked and sabotaged a heavy equipment storage depot nine miles from Jerusalem after murdering its Druze watchman early Saturday morning. A curfew imposed on five Arab villages in the region while the suspects were being tracked down was promptly lifted when the arrests were made.
The suspects were found in possession of khaki clothing and rubber-soled shoes such as used by El Fatah members. While they are almost certainly believed to belong to the terrorist group, authorities have not yet established that they were implicated in Saturday’s raid. Footprints left by rubber-soled shoes were found near the scene.
Hit by the El Fatah gang at 3:00 a.m. Saturday was a large open air machinery and road building equipment depot belonging to Mekorot, the national water works company. It is located near the Arab village of Abu Gosh on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. After machine-gunning the watchman, the terrorists blew up three tractors with high explosive charges, set fire to a fuel storage tank and destroyed other machinery and water pipes. Border police followed their trail across the old Israel-Jordan armistice line to the village of Kattana. A house-to-house search, aided by Army helicopters, was carried out there and in nearby villages where a curfew was imposed. The saboteurs left leaflets identifying themselves as El Fatah.
Three anti-vehicle mines were discovered and dismantled by Israeli border police this morning in the Beisan Valley in the vicinity of Tirat Zvi. a military spokesman reported. The mines were planted on a road used by border patrols.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
