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More Than 80 Twa Passengers Jewish; Terrorists Separate Them from Other Passengers

September 9, 1970
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A passenger list released by TWA here yesterday confirmed reports from other sources that Jewish passengers aboard the hijacked TWA airliner were segregated from other passengers by their terrorist captors at a desert airstrip in northern Jordan. The passenger list contained the names of more than 80 passengers who boarded the flight at Tel Aviv, all Jewish. None of those names appeared on an appended list of passengers who were permitted to spend the night at hotels in Amman. Reports reaching here said about 60 Jewish women and children were forced to remain on the plane after 30 other women and children were bussed to Amman. The passengers were reported to have been lined up and asked to state their names, nationalities and religion. Only the non-Jews were allowed to board the bus.

Only a few of the Jewish passengers are said to be Israelis, An unspecified number of others reportedly hold both Israeli and U.S. passports. All male passengers regardless of nationality were kept aboard the plane. There was no official word on passengers from the second hijacked airliner, a Swissair DC-8. Unconfirmed reports said all women and children were permitted to leave that plane without being checked for their nationality or religion. Reports said that women and children were sent to Amman hotels because of the harsh desert conditions. The planes are without power and there is no electricity or air conditioning. Supplies of milk and diapers were reportedly running low. There was no immediate report on how many. if any, Jewish passengers are on the captured Swissair airliner.

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