Blood Wedding

In Manhattan, the men of the U.N.Security Council listened gravely as Egypt demanded satisfaction for the "brutal aggression" in Israel's attack on Gaza, in which 38 Egyptians were killed. Israel's Abba Eban retorted that his country was prepared to bind itself to "an assurance that if no hostile act is carried out by Egypt against Israel, then no hostile act of any kind will be carried out by Israel against Egypt."

Even as the Security Council deliberated, a wedding was taking place in the village of Patish, one of the concrete settlements planted by the Israelis in the barren Negeb. It was midnight, and the wedding guests were still dancing outside the bridegroom's house. By the light of a glaring carbide lamp, the guests whirled and stomped to the wailing music of flute and cymbal. The watchdogs had been barking at the excitement all evening, and nobody noticed when they barked a little louder.

From behind a nearby chicken coop, two hand grenades arched through the night air, down among the circling dancers. The explosions toppled dancers like ninepins; 22 lay groaning and bloody on the bare earth. One 22-year-old girl was dead. The survivors dragged the wounded to shelter in the house amidst a hail of Sten gunfire. In the darkness the two attackers slipped off toward Egyptian-held Gaza, 14 miles away.

The Israeli government charged Egypt with "premeditated assault." In mourning Patish, one Israeli told the U.N. investigators angrily: "Only cowards let murderers go unpunished." In Manhattan, the Security Council talked gravely of peace.

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