Two Arab Infiltrators, Seven Israeli Soldiers Wounded in Beisan Valley Battle

Two Arab marauders were killed and seven Israeli soldiers were wounded yesterday in a fierce clash near Kibbutz Hamadiyah in the Beisan Valley. Bloodstains found in the battle area indicated that one or more guerrillas were wounded and carried back across the Jordan River by their comrades, a military spokesman reported. Israeli soldiers combing the area after the battle were fired on twice from Jordanian positions on the East Bank. A quantity of arms and ammunition was found as well as bazooka shells coupled to a timing device and aimed at Hamadiyah. The latter were timed to fire in the early morning hours. They were dismantled.

An El Fatah member was sentenced to five years by a military tribunal in Nablus today after he told the court that he became ill with arthritis while undergoing commando training at an El Fatah camp in Syria. Twenty-one year-old Moayed Kammal was found guilty of membership in the Arab terrorist organization. He said the training that caused his illness was a course in crossing rivers under fire. It was instituted, Kammal said, because of the heavy casualties suffered by El Fatah bands while trying to infiltrate Israeli territory across the Jordan River. The Syrian trainers filled canals with ice-cold water and had the recruits plunge through while their instructors fired machine guns over their heads, Kammal said.

Defense Minister Gen. Moshe Dayan and Brig. Gen. David Elazar, the northern area commander, inspected strategic settlements in the Golan Heights area today. They were accompanied by Jewish Agency settlement department officials. They showed special interest in the living conditions of the settlers and in prospects for agricultural development in the area.