4 Terrorists Killed by Army Unit

Four heavily armed terrorists who infiltrated Israel from Jordan were killed in a clash with an Israeli army unit in the Beisan area west of the Jordan River early this morning. There were no Israeli casualties. The incident indicated that the terrorists may be shifting their base of operations from south Lebanon and Syria to Jordan with the assent of the Jordanian government. (See P. 3 for related story about Jordan.)

According to military sources, the terrorists, carrying rifles and grenade launchers, crossed the Jordan River near Kibbutz Tirqt Zvi, about 30 miles south of the Syrian border. Their frail was picked up at dawn and contact was made with the marauders at 7 a.m. local time. The band was wiped out in a brief exchange of fire. All Israeli towns and settlements in the region were alerted. Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and Chief of Staff Gen: Raphael Eitan visited the scene for first-hand reports from the soldiers involved in the pursuit of the terrorists.

Eitan said there was little doubt that the Jordanian authorities were aware of the terrorist presence on their territory. He said the West German rifles and grenade launcher’s of the NATO type that they carried and the large quantity of ammunition could not have been concealed. Gen. Avigdor Ben Gal, commander of the northern region, warned Jordan today that any repetition of this type of activity against Israel would place it in the same position as Lebanon. He said Israel would take action against terrorist bases in Jordan just as it does in Lebanon.

The terrorists’ possession of weapons used by the NATO powers raised the possibility that they were acquired from soldiers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) or directly from Europe Ben Gal said.

MOVE TO UNDERMINE PEACE TREATY

The terrorist infiltration was seen here as another move in the effort by the Arab rejectionist states to undermine the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty signed last month. The same motivation was seen in the Syrian attempt to send a Palestine Liberation Organization battalion into south Lebanon disguised as Lebanese army regulars ostensibly being escorted by the Syrian peacekeeping force. The purpose apparently was to create havoc and create new, tension in the region.

The terrorists slain today carried no pamphlets, indicating that their mission was solely to murder Israeli civilians rather than take hostages. They were cornered in a beet sugar field less than a mile from the Tirat Zvi communal dining room. A PLO broadcast from Beirut at noon today confirmed that the gang intended to attack Tirat Zvi. They carried the flag of El Fatah, the terrorist arm of the PLO.

INTENSIFIED TERRORIST ACTIVITY

In Paris, Jewish financial institutions and a Jewish-owned restaurant were bomb targets. The perpetrators are believed to be members of the Syrian-sponsored Al Saiqa terrorist group. Israeli offices were attacked in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey. Three shells were fired at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. A building housing the Israeli Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus and an Egyptian airlines travel agency there were also bomb targets a week ago.

The Israeli navy captured a freighter owned by El Fatah that was ferrying a terrorist group on a sabotage mission in Israel earlier this month. With increased vigilance by sea, terrorists are now attempting to carry out attacks inside Israel through agents on the West Bank. They are believed responsible for the fatal bombing in the Carmel market in Tel Aviv last Tuesday and the earlier bombing in the Lod marketplace.

The Tel Aviv outrage claimed its second victim Friday when Charlotte Grienfeld, 74, of Holon, died of wounds inflicted by the bomb. Funeral services were held Friday for Shlomo Tzvi, 24, who was killed instantly when the bomb exploded close to the vegetable stand where he was working.