Police began Thursday to summon for questioning people allegedly connected to the April 1984 killing of two Palestinian bus-hijackers in the custody of Shin Bet intelligence agents.
This follows the Wednesday ruling by the Supreme Court upholding President Chaim Herzog’s pardon of the head of Shin Bet, Avraham Shalom, and three aides accused of, but never charged with, complicity in the killings.
The special investigations team, headed by police Inspector General David Kraus, will question army officers, Shin Bet officials and politicians, according to local press reports.
The probe is expected to be brief, with findings handed soon to Attorney General Yosef Harish, who will decide whether to take legal action. Shalom and his three aides are immune from such action. Eight other Shin Bet officials are expected also to appeal for Presidential pardons. The Attorney General may decide not to take any action and order the case file closed.
PRIME PURPOSE OF THE PROBE
According to police sources, the prime purpose of the investigation is “to clarify the picture” concerning the events of the bus hijacking and the beating deaths of the two captured terrorists.
The sources described the purpose of the investigation as allowing those responsible in the political echelons and Shin Bet leadership to “draw the necessary conclusions” to avert “similar incidents in the future.”
Both Premier Shimon Peres and Police Minister Haim Barlev stressed Wednesday that the police would conduct a thorough investigation including, if necessary, “the political echelon.” An expected focus is the meaning of the statement by Shalom in his request for a pardon that he had acted “with permission and authority.” Deputy Premier Yitzhak Shamir was Premier at the time of the killings.
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