Police moved into the Old City in force Sunday to quell mounting violence by Jews enraged over the stabbing murder of a 22-year-old yeshiva student in the Moslem quarter Saturday afternoon.
The victim, Eliahu Ambi, attended the Yeshiva Shuvu Banim, a school for penitents run by the Breslav Hasidim. He was set upon by three assailants on Hagai Street near the yeshiva and fatally stabbed in a struggle during which he injured one of his attackers. Police said Sunday that all three were in custody and had confessed to the crime.
Ambi was buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery in a pre-dawn funeral Sunday. Mourners in the procession smashed the windshields of Arab-owned cars and slashed tires. One Arab was hurt and the police made several arrests.
Violence erupted anew later in the day when fire bombs were thrown by Jews from the second floor of the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva at a nearby Arab house. One set fire to the roof and the other failed to explode. The Jerusalem fire brigade put out the blaze. A third fire bomb was tossed Sunday evening, but caused no damage.
Jews were also reported to be stoning Arab passers-by in the Old City and in the Shmuel Hanavi quarter of West Jerusalem where Ambi lived. A tourist bus was stoned outside the Old City walls, apparently by Arabs. No one was hurt.
Police arrested several demonstrators who tried to block the main road in Ramat Eshkol, a suburb of Jerusalem. They came under a hail of stones and shouts of “Death to the Arabs.” A number of people, including reporters, were injured.
According to acting Police Minister Yigael Hurwitz, the three assailants were acting on behalf of George Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Damascus-based terrorist group. Hurwitz, who is filling in for Police Minister Haim Barlev, told the Cabinet Sunday that evidence points to the PFLP despite a claim by El Fatah’s “Force 17” that it was responsible for the murder.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers fatally shot an Arab youth Friday inside an army camp near Nablus. Military sources said the youth and his brother were loitering outside the camp, apparently planning to steal ammunition. They were taken inside for questioning. One broke away and was shot after failing to heed orders to halt. The sources said the soldiers acted correctly firing into the air before firing at the fleeing youth.
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