Special Israel Commission Studying Procedures for Coping with Hijackers

A spokesman for a government commission named to review airline security procedures after the abortive terrorist attempt to hijack an El Al airliner on Aug. 30 reported today that the commission was studying procedures for coping with future hijacking attempts, particularly in which terrorists threaten the use of hand grenades. A grenade was used in the EI AI attack but it did not explode. It was found with the pin removed. The spokesman said the commission had concluded that procedures would have to be worked out for such weapons threats because even such a grenade can explode. The commission was expected to recommend continuation of existing rules that plane crews must not surrender to hijack threats even when a live grenade is involved. Meanwhile, it was reported that two Trans World security officers have arrived here to discuss with Israeli aviation authorities and El Al officials aerial security procedures. Their visit followed a decision by the United States to place armed guards on all commercial flights to prevent hijackings.

(In Bonn, government spokesman Konrad Ahlers said today that West Germany would not put armed guards on airliners because it considered the move too dangerous. He said his government preferred stricter screenings of passengers, and that West Germany endorsed international action on air piracy.) (In Washington, the United States recommended today that air transportation rights be denied any nations that tolerate the detention of airliners, passengers or crewmen on their territories or that fail to extradite or prosecute hijackers. The resolution, condemning the “heightened threat” of hijacking “for blackmail purposes,” was issued on the eve of the emergency meeting of the Council of International Civil Aviation Organization, beginning tomorrow in Montreal. The 27-member council represents the 119 ICAO member states. The U.S. asserting that hijacking contravenes the Tokyo Convention, called for action on its resolution by ICAO’s legal committee, which meets in London Sept. 29. A high-level U.S. delegation will attend the Montreal sessions. It will be headed by Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe and Federal Aviation Administrator John H. Shaffer.)