El Fatah is Shaken by Israeli Success in Breaking Up Terrorist Groups

Israel’s successful crackdown on terrorist groups in recent days has badly shaken El Fatah, security sources said. The Palestinian guerrilla organization broadcast a coded warning to its members over its Cairo radio station yesterday to take cover. The message said, “Take care. Mother’s condition very grave.” The message was addressed to Mouhamed Iben el-Kassem, the code name of the El Fatah leader in Israel. It was repeated at short intervals.

Israeli police and security forces have rounded up terrorist rings in Acre, Majdal Kurum, Nablus, Jenin. and in Hebron and the surrounding Judaean hills. Among those arrested in Jenin was a former Jordanian intelligence officer who ran a ring that supplied explosives to terrorists in Majdal Kurum, an Arab village about 10 miles east of Acre. He was found in possession of a large quantity of explosive bricks, bazookas and machine-guns. Another arms cache discovered near Nablus yielded bazookas, shells and hundreds of hand grenades along with detonators, rifles and revolver ammunition. The weapons were concealed in the courtyard of the mukhtar (headman) of Djunied, a village said to be a recruiting headquarters for Israeli Arabs.

Meanwhile, terrorist activities, especially those involving Israeli Arabs, were vigorously denounced today by the Kadis (leaders) of Israel’s Moslem religious courts. A statement signed by four Kadis, whose jurisdiction covers Moslem courts all over the country, said that terrorist activities were a violation of the teachings of the Koran and are”bound to hurt the Arab minority and to harm the Arab-Jewish co-existence.” It called on Israeli authorities “to mete out just punishment to the perpetrators of these crimes” and urged Israeli Arabs “to take positive and effective steps to dissociate themselves from destructive activities.”