The Guerrillas Again

The Palestinian guerrillas, who had been dormant since King Hussein expelled them from Jordan eight months ago, exploded into new activity last week with a series of attacks that reverberated throughout the Middle East. One group skyjacked a West German jet and successfully ransomed it for $5,000,000 (see following story). Then fedayeen struck in Gaza and on the Lebanese border, killing five Israelis, two of them civilians. Israeli armored forces and aircraft retaliated in the most intense fighting since the Middle East cease fire began 19 months ago.

The Israeli troops swept into Lebanon toward what they call Fatahland, a desolate area that is a staging ground for an estimated 5,000 guerrillas. The attack was expected by Lebanon, but not in such strength. Under jet cover, columns of armored vehicles attacked near the village of Ainta, from which they suspected the raids had originated. The Israelis killed ten fedayeen and two Lebanese civilians, destroyed houses and rolled home with captured weapons. Next day they struck again.

The Lebanese government and the fedayeen have an agreement that the guerrillas will not provoke such reprisals by firing into Israel from Lebanon, but no one would admit openly that the accord had broken down. Instead, Lebanon requested, and got, a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in order to ask for a censure of Israel. The Council was particularly angry that the fighting came when it did. Almost simultaneously, U.N. Mediator Gunnar Jarring was visiting Jerusalem to test the possibility of renewed peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt. The outlook, in light of the renewed fighting: poor.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.