The Israeli public has been urged to double its alertness in the light of increasing sabotage attempts in the last several days. The latest incidents were reported yesterday when a bomb was discovered in Jerusalem and an attempt in Netanya was thwarted by alert lifeguards.
In Jerusalem a bomb was discovered under a fruit and vegetable stand in the Mahane Yehuda market only a few yards from where a booby-trapped baby carriage was found last week. The bomb, hidden in a bread loaf, was dismantled before it could cause harm.
According to police, a man described as an Arab bought fruit at the stand and asked the vendor, Avraham Yihya, if he could leave his shopping basket there. The man never returned At 8:30 p.m. when he was closing the stand, the owner’s son, Yitzhak, noticed the basket and discovered that the bread was booby-trapped. Four suspects were detained.
Last evening a bomb exploded in a house near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, some 10 miles south of Jerusalem. No one was hurt and there was no damage. Police did not know whether terrorists were involved. In an earlier incident yesterday an explosion in Kfar Saba injured an old man and caused shock to two children. The explosive charge went off in a garbage container near a public bench in the township several miles northeast of Herzliya.
INCREASE, NOT A WAVE OF TERRORISM
The incident in Netanya occurred when two life guards noticed that two well-dressed Arabs were on the beach carrying plastic bags that seemed heavier than if they had been filled with swimming togs. The lifeguards ordered the men to show them the bags and when they refused the guards overpowered the two Arabs. inside the bag they found mortar shells with activating materials and explosive devices connected a wristwatch as well as nails and metal pieces. The two Arabs were turned over to police and the bags were placed in a hole in the sand to prevent casualties on the crowded beach.
Meanwhile, Meir Novik, Israel’s Deputy Commander of Police, said he would not call the recent acts of terror “a new wave” of terrorism. He admitted there was an increase in the number of incidents after a short period of relative calm. He discounted speculation that the recent increase in sabotage acts resulted from the policy of allowing summer visitors from the Arab countries into the administered territories. Novik said the police force was being rearranged to combat terrorism. He said most of the police are now engaged in security work. But he stressed that the major means of preventing terrorism was public alertness.
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