Newspaper Page Text
t
Prim* Minister Gold* Meir ha* moved op her projected visit
to flic United States and on September 21 win talk to American
Jewry In twenty-one dries, including Atlanta, thraagh closed
circuit tv. (Story pace 12)
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry;- Esta
Vol. XLV
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, September 11, 1970
Two Scot ions—12 Pages
Multiple Countercharges
Hijacking Precipitates
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Sunday’s
triple hijack by Arab terrorists
was the subject of high level dis
cussions here Monday. A For
eign Ministry spokesman said
Israel was in contact with. the
governments whose planes were
involved. Efforts were being
made to check out terrorist
claims that 50 Israeli nationals
were among the 300 passengers
aboard a TWA 707 and a Swiss
air DC-8 forced tq land at Zerka,
near Mafraq, in northern Jordan.
The terrorists are holding the
passengers and crews as hos
tages for Arab prisoners in Israel
and Europe.
According to one source,
there were 12 Israeli passengers
aboard the TWA jet hijacked on
a flight from Frankfurt to New
York. Among them reportedly
were a Rabbi Joseph Raful-
Harari and his five children,
Mrs. Tova Cohen and her two
children and a Mrs. Goren with
two children. Several Jews of
U. S. nationality were said to
have been on the plane. They
were identified as a Mrs. Fried
man and Rabbi Itzhak Hutner of
the Haim Berlin Yeshiva in New
York, his wife, daughter and
son-in-law. Minister of Transport
Shimon Peres said that Israel
was demanding the extradition
of Laila Khaled, the survivor of
a hijack team that failed in an
attempt to seize an El A1 air
liner. Her male companion was
•hot and' killed for »n El A1 se
curity guard and she suffered
slight injuries in a scuffle with
passengers. Miss Khaled was
taken into custody when the
plane made an emergency land
ing at London. Mr. Peres said
the crime was committed aboard
an Israeli aircraft and therefore
technically on Israeli soil. British
Miss America?
SHE WANTS TO BE A LAW-
. YER — Beautiful Connie Lemer,
Miss North Carolina 1970,-listed
on her fact sheet her desire to
go to law school. If she makes
it, the clients should line up—
male at least. In the meantime,
the 18-year-old daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Harry Lemer of Ashe
ville will represent her state in
the Miss America Pageant. Miss
Lemer is a first generation
American, her parents having
come to America after surviving
Nazi concentration camps of
World War H.
authorities reportedly, have the
Israeli extradition demand under
consideration. According to re
ports from London, there was
some inclination to release the
girl in order to save the hos
tages in Jordan from terrorist
reprisals. The guerrillas have
demanded the return of Miss
Khaled to Jordan along with the
body of the slain, hijacker.
Israel was apparently hold
ing the Jordanian government
Continued on page 5
Israel’s El A1
Tourist Office
Postpone Parley
The crisis in travel to the
Middle East has post
ponement of next week’s
conference of El Al Airline
and Israel Tourist Office of
ficials scheduled in Atlanta.
The event would have as
sembled around sixty repres
entative of both Israel gov
ernment services from the
North American continent,
as writ as several top dig
nitaries . from the home of
fices in Tel Aviv and Jer
usalem.
Plans for the replacement
date will be announced
aopn- ,
El A1 Resists Plan
Arab Guerrillas Seize
iz
oezst
NEW YORK (JTA) — An El
Al Boeing 707 jet with 148 pas
sengers aboard landed at Ken
nedy Airport early Monday
morning 12 hours late after its
security guards foiled a mid-air
hijack attempt by two Arab ter
rorists, killing one’ and wound
ing the other
The attempt was made after
the plane took off from Schipel
Airport at Amsterdam. Two pas
sengers and a 39-year-old ste
ward, Shloiho Vidor, were woun
ded in the gun battle The air
liner made an emergency land
ing at London where the woun
ded were hospitalized and the
surviving hijacker taken into
custody. A crowd of about 500
relatives and friend of the pas
sengers gathered at Kennedy
Airport before dawn. They
screamed and cheered as the jet
landed and pushed into the in
ternational arrivals building for
emotional reunions with their
kin.
Hie El A1 plane was one of
four international airliners car
rying 600 passengers that were
the^targets of a coordinated hi
jack plan by Arab terrorists yes
terday for which the extremist
Popular Front for the Liberation
Palestine has claimed credit.
The El A1 plane was the only
one in which the hijackers were
resisted. Two of the others, a
Peace Talks to Go On
WASHINGTON (JTA) — De
spite Israel’s decision yesterday
to withdraw from the peace talks
under the auspices of Ambassa
dor Gunnar V. Jarring, U.S. of
ficials here have taken 'the view
that the peace talks are far from
hopeless and that Israel’s with
drawal meant only delay rather
than a termination. Officials
here and at United Nations head
quarters in New York were of
the opinion that the talks would
be resumed at the' ministerial
level when the Foreign Ministers
of Israel and the Arab states ar
rive in New York beginning
Sept. 15 for the opening of the
25th session of the General As
sembly. Spokesmen for the ad
ministration and the UN based
their cautious optimism that the
talks would resume on the fact
that Israel also declared it would
continue to honor the cease-fire
truce. At the Western White
House in San Clemente, Calif.,
White House press secretary
Ronald Ziegler expressed hope
the talks would start soon.
“We will continue to make
every effort to work out these
problems,” he said. Referring to
the two elements to the U.S-
sponsored truce agreement—the
military standstill and the cease
fire in the Suez Canal area—Mr.
Ziegler stated, "We believe both
sides should abide by both of
them.” According to .sources
here, the U.S. would undertake
a diplomatic effort to ensure
that the peace talks do not break
down entirely. There are tenta
tive plans for Secretary of State
William P. Rogers to conifer with
Israeli Foreign Minister Abba
Eban, Soviet Foreign Minister
Andrei Gromyko, Egyptian For
eign Minister Mahmoud Riad, and
Jordanian Foreign Minister An
ton Atalla when they arrive for
the opening of the General As
sembly. (During a meeting on
Friday in Cairo with the senior
American diplomat, Donald C.
Bergus, Mr. Riad categorically
denied Israeli charges of stand
still violations.)
Diplomatic sources noted too
that consultations may also take
place between the U.S. and Isra
el later this month when Israeli
Premier Go Ida Meir visits thi
United States where she is ti
address the Conference of Presi
dents of Major American Jewisl
Organizations in New York oi
Sept. 20.
It is considered likely tha
Mrs. Meir will confer with Presi
dent.Nixon when she returns ti
the U.S. again some time in Oct
ober. Informed sources said tha
the Administration was unable t<
get assurances during discussion:
last week with Egyptian anc
Soviet officials in Cairo anc
Moscow that truce violation:
would halt.
Israel lodged her eleventh
complaint with the UN True*
Supervision Organization
(UNTSO). State Department
spokesman Robert McCloskey
said on Friday that U.S. diplo
mats were "seeking rectification”
in Cairo and Moscow but refused
to explain what he meant by
"rectification.” Other U.S. offic
ials stated their efforts at “recti
fication” of the standstill viola
tions was a “continuing matter.”
UN Secretary General U Thant
said on Saturday that the Egyp
tian violations of the cease-fire
and standstill charged by Israel
and confirmed by the United
States were not a “valid reason”
to delay the Mideast peace talks.
He said there were two aspects
of the problem, “the alleged vio
lation” and “the talks with Dr.
Jarring” Mr. Thant had been
asked for comment on Israel’s
reported insistence that Egypt
draw back the missiles installed
since the start of the cease-fire
on Aug. 7 before the Jarring
talks were resumed. .
How Long This Air Piracy?
Editorial
Close to 300 innocent hijack passengers on Thursday
sat under impossible conditions awaiting jthe mercy of in
humane assassins who have outraged the decency of the
world. ,
America, Switzerland, Germany and now the latest Eng
land had delegated to the Red Cross the task of negotiating
for the blackmail exchange of- the passengers for the hi*
jackers and odds were that the blackmailers would be ap
peased. -
Surrounded by Arab guerrilla fighters, the three planes
from which non-Jewish women and children had been freed
lay in the mercilessly hot sun While inside the passengers
sought existence under deteriorating conditions.
Will this ruthless sequence Of events at last cause the
type of action which could stop such tragedies? 41
TWA 707 and a Swissair DC-8,
were forced to fly to a guerrilla
controlled airstrip at Mafraq in
Jordan where their passengers
and crew are reportedly being
held as hostages for Arab terror
ists jailed in Israel and Europe.
The third plane, a Ron Ameri
can Boeing 747 jumbo jet was
forced to land at Cairo where the
terrorists, blew it up moments af
ter its passengers and crew were
evacuated. A Pan American
spokesman in New York said die
passengers were safe and would
be flown to the U.S. by the air
line He added that the $23 mil
lion jet was fully insured
Capt. Uri Bariev, who was
piloting the El Al jet when the
hijackers attempted to seize it,
flew home from London last
night after reporting briefly to
Premier Golda Meir and Defense-
Minister Moshe Dayan by tele
phone. The two security guards
also returned to Israel after be
ing interrogated by Scotland
Yard. The surviving terrorist
was identified as Miss Laila
Khaled, 24, who was bom in
Haifa She and her male com
panion boarded the El A1 flight
at Schipol using Honduran pass
ports. Security checks at the
Dutch airport failed to detect the
arms they carried.
According to eye-witness ac
counts from passengers who
landed at Kennedy today and re
ports from London the El Al
plane had just set course for
New York when a young man
pulled out a gun and rushed for
the pilots' compartment. The girl
threatened passengers and crew
with a hand grenade. A moment
later, shots were heard from the
pilots’ compartment. Several
male passengers overpowered the
girl and disarmed the grenade.
The incident was over in several
minutes. Some passengers hi the
rear of the plane said (hey were
unaware that anything was
wrong until they heard the gun
shots and saw the struggle in the
aisle. El A1 has taken unspecified
security measures since one of
its planes was hijacked to Alger
ia two years ago. But it was an
open secret that security guards
“ride shotgun” oh. every flight
and as evidenced by yesterday's
incident they are trained to re-"
spond quickly and accurately.