Sabotage Attempts Linked to Terrorist Cell in Nablus

Two attempts at sabotage in Nablus this weekend have been linked by Israeli authorities to local residents who may have been organized into a terrorist cell last summer when the West Bank was open to visitors from Jordan. Several arrests were made last night after Army sappers safely detonated an explosive charge found in the town square. Another device exploded Friday evening near the Nablus labor exchange but caused no casualties or damage.

Six more arrests were announced by Israeli authorities over the weekend in connection with Syrian espionage attempts in Israel and the administered territories. Police disclosed today that an Arab from Kabatiyeh village near Nablus was arrested on a Jordan River bridge several days ago after a routine search disclosed that he was carrying detonators concealed in his shoes.

The suspect reportedly confessed under questioning that he had been recruited by Syrian agents while visiting Jordan recently and was sent to Syria for training in the use of explosives and in organizing sabotage groups.

Police announced Friday the arrests of five more members of a Syrian-directed Druze spy ring uncovered last week. The arrests were made at Eilat where the suspects were working as laborers and apparently gathering information on Israeli naval and military deployment at Eilat and the Gulf of Aqaba. Israeli authorities said it appeared that the Syrian spy ring was cooperating with Egyptian intelligence in that area.

OPERATED IN KEY POSITIONS

The Druze ring was based at Majdal Shams village on the Golan Heights near the Syrian border and was headed by Abu Jamal Shaquib, 51, a wealthy Druze who employed his sons and other relatives in espionage activities. Shaquib and 14 members of his clan were arrested last week. An investigation, still underway, disclosed that the ring-leader deployed his subordinates in key positions around the country.

They worked as porters, construction workers and mechanics as covers for intelligence gathering operations and even managed to obtain civilian jobs in strategic areas, police said. Several arms and explosives caches used by the ring have been discovered.

Shaquib was reportedly known as a Syrian agent before the Six-Day War during which he fled to Syria. He was permitted to return to the Golan Heights in 1969 under the family reunion program on his promise of good behavior. But he used his farming activities as a cover for espionage, Israeli authorities said.

Two suspects were arrested in Hebron yesterday after an Israeli bus driver told police that he was menaced by a group of local Arab drivers and had to use his pistol to scare them off. Assaf Dinowitz, a 25-year-old Egged bus driver, said he was attacked at Tarkumiya village near Hebron when he came there Friday to pick up Arab laborers for jobs in Israel. He said his life was threatened if he continued to transport Arab workers to Israel.