Security forces disclosed today that 97 Arabs, nine women among them, have been detained as a result of the exposure of underground terrorist cells in the Jerusalem area. According to the officials, the Arabs in custody have readily supplied police with the names and addresses of their co-conspirators. All that remained was for the police to go in and pick them up, one officer said.
The series of arrests also yielded nine arms caches including weapons of British, Chinese and Russian make in excellent condition. One cache was found near Bethlehem, two in East Jerusalem and six in the Ramallah area. Each of them was supplied to provide arms for at least 30 people, the police said. Among the arrested terrorists are members of a cell that specialized in poisoning Arab leaders suspected of collaborating with Israeli authorities.
Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Chief of Staff Haim Bar-Lev reported at the Cabinet session on the security situation. Minister of Police Eliayhu Sassoun described the exposure of terrorist cells in the Jerusalem area and the steps taken by security forces against recent incidents of sabotage.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
