Bus Stop

Jewish terrorists arrested

In the West Bank, the cycle of terror and retribution seems unbreakable. Late last week, sources close to Israeli military authorities disclosed that more than 20 people were arrested in connection with an attempt to plant bombs under six Arab buses. Some of the vehicles had been chartered to take worshipers to an Islamic festival. An Israeli defense ministry official said that the suspects had long been under surveillance, and that some were caught in the act of placing the bombs. Authorities believe that their actions were planned as retaliation for a series of terrorist acts in Israel, including the April 12 hijacking of an Israeli bus with 39 passengers aboard. Four Palestinian hijackers, and an Israeli woman taken hostage, died in that incident.

The arrests are part of a continuing government crackdown on suspected Jewish terrorists. Those taken into custody were said to include several West Bank settlers and some reserve officers in the Israel Defense Forces. The police hope that the arrests may shed some light on earlier attacks on Arabs, including the June 1980 bombings that maimed two West Bank mayors. Of the foiled bus attack, Interior Minister Yosef Burg said, "Thank God, the disaster was prevented. Terror produces more terror."

In another development stemming from the bus hijacking two weeks ago, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens announced last week that a special commission will investigate charges that two of the Palestinian hijackers were murdered after the incident by Israeli security forces. The three-member panel will be headed by Meir Zorea, a former army general who recently retired as comptroller of the defense ministry. The commission will report its findings directly to the Cabinet, which will then decide whether they should be made public.