An Arab caught in November, 1964, as he attempted to infiltrate into Israel was sentenced here in the Haifa District Court today to 15 years’ imprisonment, after being convicted on a charge of spying. The man, a Lebanese, had been wounded in a gun battle with Israeli security forces during the 1964 incident, but has now recovered fully from his injury.
Mahmoud Hijazi, a Jordanian Arab sentenced here to death a year ago after he was captured as a member of an El Fatah gang bent on sabotage inside Israel, will escape execution, it was indicated today. He is now on trial again before a military court, having been granted a second trial following his earlier death sentence because he had not been defended by foreign counsel.
Today, the prosecutor of the case said he will not ask for the death sentence, due to “special circumstances” in the case. Hijazi has pleaded not guilty to all four points in the indictment facing the military court. He is accused of firing at members of Israel’s defense forces, throwing a hand grenade at an Israeli patrol unit, illegally carrying firearms, and being a member of “a gang of felons.” He was captured in January, 1964, after infiltrating into Israel near the Jordanian border, along with other members of El Fatah.
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.
