Six Israeli jets blasted guerrilla bases in Jordan today in two separate raids as Israeli and Jordanian ground forces fought with artillery, mortars and tank guns south of the Sea of Galilee. One Israeli soldier was fatally wounded in the encounter. Five other soldiers were wounded, a military spokesman reported today.
The targets of the jets were reportedly Wadi Al Yabess, Tel Al Sukkar and Mashareh, all located in the northern Jordan Valley. Israeli sources said they were being used as bases to shell Israeli settlements in the Beisan Valley. Jordan claimed that one Israeli Mystere jet was hit by ground fire and was seen crashing in the Beisan area. Amman said a Jordanian farmer was slightly wounded in the attack and that two civilian trucks and a bus were hit.
Egyptian gunners continued sporadic fire with mortars, machine guns and artillery along the canal. But the heaviest fighting occurred in the Beisan Valley region. The Jordanians opened fire on Israeli patrols in the northern section of the Valley and also fired at targets near two settlements.
Seven Arab guerrillas trying to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon were driven off by an Israeli border patrol today, a military spokesman reported. There was no mention of casualties. Premier Golda Meir said that Israel had no intention of annexing the southern portions of Lebanon and that rumors to that effect were being circulated by “enemies whose only interest is to cause tension and complications.”
In a related development, life sentences were imposed today on two saboteurs, one from Jenin on the West Bank and the other from Jordan. A military tribunal rejected an appeal from the 20-year-old Jenin man that he be released and be permitted to go to Cairo for university studies. He had already confessed, to firing on an Israeli patrol killing two soldiers. The Jordanian was sentenced to life imprisonment for planting explosives in the Beisan Valley.
Israeli security forces seized $108,000 in foreign currency and Jordanian dinars from a group of Nablus residents on suspicion that he money was intended for payment to terrorist or other illegal activities sponsored by Jordan. The residents had just returned to the West Bank from a visit to Jordan and apparently failed to declare the dollars. The rest of the currency was in dinars which is legal tender on the West Bank.
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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.
