Dr. Baruch Modan, Director General of the Health Ministry, told the Cabinet today that there was absolutely no evidence of poisoning in what he called the “mass phenomenon” that has affected hundreds of West Bank Arab teenage girls taken ill during the past two weeks.
He said that conclusion was based on the extensive tests made at several Israeli hospitals. He indicated that there was an “environmental cause” for the original outbreak of symptoms in Arrabe village, near Jenin. But the spread of those symptoms to all parts of the West Bank was a “mass phenomenon.”
Modan deliberately refrained from using the term “mass hysteria” because of its derogatory connotations. That term had been used by some Israelis to explain the mystery ailment, among them Gen. Mose Revah, the chief army physician, at a press conference Sunday.
Modan explained to the ministers that scientific evidence taken from medical literature shows that such “mass phenomenon” is not uncommon and that young women or girls are affected rather than men. He said an International Red Cross expert. Dr. Franz Altherr, who was in Israel last week to investigate the ailment had reached the same conclusions and had authorized him to release them in his name. The Red Cross has made no official statement. (See separate story from Geneva.)
NO OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY THE CABINET
The ministers decided to issue no official statement on the matter in the hope that the episode will fade and that the various local and international investigations now going on would convince the world that charges of mass poisoning were baseless.
Meanwhile, there were no new reports of the illness from the West Bank today and no further admissions to hospitals of patients complaining of the symptoms. Several girls were discharged from Hebron hospitals today, reportedly feeling well. But 35 high school girls remained hospitalized in Jenin, some of them since they were admitted two weeks ago. They complain of nausea, dizziness, headaches and stomach pains.
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