Two significant moves against terrorism were taken by the Israeli military authorities on the West Bank over the weekend. They ordered the A-Najah University in Nablus to be closed for two months and approved the administrative arrest of Zaid Abu-Ein, one of the 1,150 released terrorists in the May prisoner exchange with Ahmad Jibril’s Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The university, which is considered a hotbed of PLO activitiy in the West Bank, was ordered closed because inflammatory anti-Israel material was found by military security forces during a search of the offices of the student union on the campus, an official army communique said. The communique said the material promoted terrorist activities against Israel.
The search was conducted because one of the two residents in the nearby village of Tubal killed in an explosion last weekend was a student at A-Najah. Israeli security forces said the two were victims of a bomb that exploded while they were setting it. In addition, the man who two weeks ago attacked children with a knife in downtown Jerusalem as they were waiting to go to a day camp was also described as a student at the university. He injured five of the youngsters.
Nablus was also the scene last week of a widespread manhunt after Albert Buchris, 32, from Afula, was fatally shot at close range last Tuesday by an assailant who fled through one of the alleys in the old market place. Buchris, who operated a food stand at the entrance to the nearby Israeli military government headquarters, had gone to the market place to buy pitta. They city was placed under curfew, but it was lifted yesterday after four days.
In the arrest of Abu-Ein, a military court in Ramallah where he lived, held a closed door session on Friday. According to the authorities, Abu-Ein incited Arab students to fight against Israel until “Palestine” is liberated and allegedly met with Arab students from Gaza to plan the hijack of an Israeli bus, an operation which did not materialize. Military sources said Abu-Ein ignored repeated warnings not to get involved again in hostile activities.
He was given a life sentence four years ago for planting a bomb in Tiberias which killed three people and wounded 30. The attack had taken place in 1977 but Abu-Ein fled to the United States and was extradited back to Israel in 1981. Last Friday he was ordered to be detained for six months.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
