Fire Exchanged on 2 Fronts, Injuries Reported in Weekend of Violence in Mideast

Israeli patrols were attacked today near Maoz Chaim and Ashdod Yaacov in the Beisan Valley region. The fire was returned and there were no casualties, a military spokesman said. An Israeli Arab from Beersheba, 22-year-old Suleiman Rizek, was wounded by gunshots in the West Bank town of Ramallah today. Police were investigating but reported no arrests.

Reports of a 35-minute mortar and tank duel along the Israel-Jordan cease-fire line today were not confirmed by Israeli sources. A Jordanian spokesman in Amman claimed that Israeli gunners had started the shooting and that Jordanian return fire destroyed an Israeli half track and inflicted casualties.

A kerosene tank at Jerusalem’s Kalandia Airport was damaged by an explosion which shattered windows in nearby buildings at daybreak Saturday. Israeli officials said there were no signs of sabotage and denied a claim made by the El Fatah in Amman that the explosion was the work of saboteurs. The blast was attributed to a build-up of pressure in pipelines carrying gasoline. Kalandia Airport, in territory seized from Jordan during the June, 1967 war, is used mainly for local flights. The United Nations plane used by the chief UN truce observer, Lt. Gen. Odd Bull, was parked at the airport at the time of the explosion but did not sustain damage.

An Israeli military spokesman said that six Arab infiltrators were killed in the Golan Heights yesterday when they were caught in an apparent attempt to steal sheep or cattle. He said the marauders opened fire at a point about six miles south of Kuneitra on the Israel-Syrian demarcation line. A spokesman reported that 15 mortar shells were fired into the Neot Hakikar settlement south of the Dead Sea yesterday but caused no casualties or damage.

All quiet was reported on the Suez Canal front today following Friday’s two hour artillery clash between Israeli and Egyptian forces. A military spokesman said Israeli gunners scored direct hits on an Egyptian tanker lying at Port Suez and on a tank and that Egyptian bunkers were destroyed. The spokes- man said Israeli forces suffered no casualties because of the quality of their defense positions. Egyptian sources claimed that heavy casualties and damage were inflicted on the Israeli side during the exchange. They admitted that an Egyptian tanker was hit.

A Haifa student was slightly injured Thursday when a group of sightseers of which he was a member came under Jordanian attack near El Hamma which is close to the three-border junction of Israel, Jordan and Syria. The visitors had arrived in a number of busses and private cars and were standing on the main road when fire began from the Jordanian side of the Yarmouk River tributary of the Jordan River. The visitors included women and children on a holiday sightseeing trip. All of the visitors took shelter. Israeli forces in the area returned the fire and silenced the attackers. The entire group was able to proceed on its way. The student, 19-year-old Zeev Pappenheim, was hospitalized.