Israel’s “summer visitors” program through which thousands of Arabs from the neighboring countries have visited Israel since the Six-Day War, officially opened again today. Tight security is being maintained on the Jordan River bridges and all the visiting Arabs are thoroughly searched to detect possible terrorist infiltrations or persons smuggling lethal devices.
Although terrorist incidents usually increase during the “summer visits” Israel is determined to maintain the “open bridges” policy. Israeli officials believe this policy has helped teach Arabs in neighboring countries that the Israelis are human and that the Arabs who live under Israeli control are well off. But security forces are taking every possible precaution. It is believed here that special terrorist units that have undergone intensive training in Lebanon are preparing for action in Israel. Reliable sources here have put the number of members of terrorist organizations at 15,000, half in Lebanon, mostly in 19 Palestinian refugee camps. According to the sources, there are about 3000 terrorists in “Fatahland,” the hilly region of southern Lebanon and another 7000 in the refugee camps near Damascus.
Israeli sources have reason to believe that scores of terrorists are training in the Soviet Union and hundreds in Arab countries other than Lebanon and Syria. There also appears to be a terrorist network in Europe. Terrorist cells in the administered territories receive instructions from commands in Beirut and Damascus, according to Israeli sources. But they lack equipment and most of the security on the Jordan bridges is to make sure that supplies for these terrorists do not get through.
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.
