Coordinated bomb attacks against prominent West Bank leaders severely wounded Mayor Bassam Shako of Nablus and Mayor Karin Khallaf of Ramallah today and caused grave injuries to a police sapper who was attempting to dismantle a bomb intended for Mayor Ibrahim Tawil of El Bireh.
Seven other people were wounded when a bomb exploded in an Arab school in the center of Hebron. The school is located in a building once owned by Jews. The blasts in widely separated towns, occurred almost simultaneously this morning. The perpetrators are unknown but it is widely believed in Israel and on the West Bank that the outrage was the work of Jewish extremists, possibly in revenge for the ambush killings of six yeshiva students by terrorists in Hebron exactly one month ago.
Mayor Shaka had both of his legs amputated at Rafodiya Hospital in Nablus. Mayor Khallaf, in Ramallah Hospital, lost part of his left leg. The police sapper, treated at Hodassah Hospital in Jerusalem, lost both eyes and one arm. All three men were reported in serious condition.
STRIKES IN TWO TOWNS
The bombings initially stunned the West Bank populace but anger quickly replaced the shock. Tension reached a new high throughout the territory although Israeli military authorities described the situation as relatively calm. There was a total strike in Nablus and a partial one in Ramallah. Security forces spent the day attempting to disperse student demonstrators in both towns. Three youngsters were wounded in the legs by Israeli soldiers who come under a hail of stones when they tried to remove a roadblock. They were hospitalized.
The town councils of Ramallah and El Bireh, ten miles north of Jerusalem, convened in emergency session this afternoon in violation of orders from the Military Government. They were joined by sympathy delegations from Hebron, Bethlehem, and Halhoul. The town council of Gaza resigned en masse today to protest “the negative developments in the territories.”
Premier Menachem Begin, in his first act as interim Defense Minister today, ordered security forces to launch a comprehensive investigation to find those responsible for the bombings. He described them as “crimes of the worst kind.” But he rejected demands by the Peace Now movement and the Sheli faction to immediately disarm the Gush Emuaim and other Jewish extremists and place their settlements and living quarters under curfew.
BEGIN: ‘STATE OF LAW’
“We are a State of law and as long as we have no proof, we should not cast suspicions against anybody,” Begin said. It was recalled, however, that after the Hebron killings on May 2, that town was placed under a curfew which lasted 12 days and scores of local Arabs were rounded up for questioning.
Begin said that as a human being he expressed sorrow over the acts and shared the grief of the families of the victims. Deputy Premier Yigael Yodin, leader of the Democratic Movement, expressed “shock” over the assassination attempts but said he was confident that the security agencies would find those responsible and put them on trial.
Shaul Rosolio, a Labor MK and former Chief of Police, presented on urgent motion to the Knesset condemning the outrage. Labor MK Yossi Sarid said the bombs “blasted to smithereens any illusion that Israel could maintain its control of the administered territories indefinitely.” MK Chaika Grossman of Mapam sent a telegram to Begin demanding that Israel’s special anti-terrorist squad be put on the trail of the perpetrators immediately. The Hodash Communist Party issued a statement blaming the Gush Emunim and Rabbi Meir Kahane’s extremist “Kach” movement for the bombings.
KACH IMPLIES APPROVAL OF ACT
Kahane’s group has long been agitating for vigilante action against West Bank Arabs and Kahane himself was placed under administrative arrest last month for allegedly harassing Arabs. Kach spokesmen denied any connection with the bombings but implied that they approved of the acts.
Yossi Dayan, an aide to Kahane, told reporters that the bombings were “the tip of the iceberg” compared to what would happen if the proposed autonomy plan was implemented on the West Bank. He said he had not been approached by the police so far and had nothing to hide from them.
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv issued a strong condemnation of the bombings. An Embassy spokesman said “This is yet another incident in the vicious circle of hostility and counter-hostility.” Officials at the Egyptian Embassy also denounced the attacks and said Egypt opposes any kind of violence from whatever source.
Police reported that their initial investigation showed that the three bombs intended for the Arab mayors were planted in the same manner, attached to the left front wheels of the mayor’s cars and wired to detonate either when the ignition key was turned or when the door on the driver’s side was opened.
The first blast wrecked the car of Mayor Khallaf of Ramallah. Brig. Gen. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, commander of the West Bank, immediately ordered police sappers to inspect the cars of all West Bank mayors. In Mayor Shaka’s case, the police arrived too late. In El Bireh, the Mayor escaped injury but the police sapper assigned to his car was badly injured.
BEA-ELIEZER TOURS WEST BANK
Ben-Eliezer toured the West Bank by helicopter today and visited the towns where the bombings occurred. He was accompanied by Lt. Gen. Moshe Levy, commander of the central region. Asked if the army was taken by surprise by the violence, Ben-Eliezer told reporters, “The army has always been ready.” He refused further comment.
In Jerusalem, meanwhile, police checked the homes and cars of all Arab dignitaries. They were placed on special alert to prevent possible demonstrations by the Arab population in East Jerusalem.
The question remained as to whether today’s events would further aggravate the grave situation on the West Bank where protests have been mounting against what the local populace regards as increasingly tough measures by the Israeli authorities. Tension has been running high since the summary deportations of Mayor Fahed Kawasme of Hebron, Mayor Mohammed Milhim of Halhoul and Kadi (religious judge) Rojeb Buyud Tamimi of Hebron in the aftermath of the May 2 killings. Last month, the Supreme Court gave the government 45 days to show cause why the deportation orders should not be rescinded.
DIFFICULT TIME EXPECTED
Ironically, Mayor Shaka of Nablus was ordered deported last year because of allegedly anti-Israel remarks he made in a private conversation with an Israeli official. The Supreme Court was also involved in that case but the Military Government withdrew the deportation order before the court could act on an appeal by Shaka’s family.
Observers believe that Israeli security forces will have a difficult time maintaining order on the West Bank in the weeks to come as a result of today’s events. Hundreds of students demonstrated outside the Nablus hospital where Shaka was undergoing surgery today. Many ware masks and waved Molotov cocktails (gasoline bombs) over their heads. Soldiers and reporters who approached them were greeted with stones and shouted slogans such as “Israel, No, No, No–Only PLO” and “End the occupation.” The demonstrators were dispersed by tear gas.
The bombings overshadowed Begin’s assumption of the Defense Ministry post in an attempt to defuse coalition opposition to his proposed shift of Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir to the defense slot and Energy Minister Yitzhak Modai to the foreign Ministry. News of the West Bank bombings reached him in Tel Aviv where he was to have his first meeting as defense chief with senior officers at General Headquarters.
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