2 — THE BULLETIN — Thursday, October 12,1989
he caused
By GIL SEDAN
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian Arab who caused the death of 16^ bus passengers, including a Vancouver resident, has pleaded guilty to the act in Jerusalem district court but denied it was premeditated.
The defendant, Abdul Mahdi Ghanem, a West Bank resident, has been charged with 16 counts of murder and 24 counts of attempted murder. The thin, bearded youth, wearing a plain white T-shirt, appeared in court handcuffed and under heavy police guard, i ^
He admitted that while riding in an Egged bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on July 6, he wrested the wheel from the driver, causing the vehicle to plunge into a ravine, where it exploded. Of the 40 pasengers aboard, 16 died and 27, including Ghanem, were injured.
According to the indictment, Ghanem decided as
early as last May to kill as many Jews as possible by attacking a biis. He had that in mind when he boarded Jerusalem-bound bus 405 at the Tel Aviv bus terminal, the prosecution charges.
His apparent motiye was to avenge the wounding of a friend, Radwan, in a clash with Israeli soldiers. He shouted "Radwan, Radwan" when he assaulted the driver as the bus climbed the Jerusalem hills.
Ghanem's attorney, Jonathan Kuttab, said his client pleaded riot guilty to charges that he had planned or intended to commit a crime. He said the youth was not a "politicized" person, and that it remains to be deterniined what caused him to act violently "all of a sudden."
The three-judge panel gave his family permission to engage a psychiatrist of their choice. The hearing will resume Dec. 27.
It was announced, meanwhile, that Israel's 1,000
Polio fears subsiding
JERUSALEM — Fear of a polio epidemic seems to be subsiding even though an eighth case has been confirmed and the Israel Defense Force has begun vaccinating all regulars and reservists.
The police department is also vaccinating members of the force from the two areas of the country where the polio virus has been found in sewage — the Hadera region and the Lod-Ramla region.
The Health Ministry completed a mass vaccination program of residents of those areas recently. More than 150,000 children and adults were inoculated.
But the health authorities decided a national vaccination campaign was not necessary because most of the population is immune.
The outbreak of the disease
Library of Congress and Harvard add Bar-Han
WASHINGTON — The Library of Congress and that of Harvard university will add to their collections on microfiche, doctoral dissertations from Bar-Ilan university in the fields of Judaism and Land of Israel Studies. Negotiations are underway as well with Yeshiva university (including an exchange arrangement netting Bar-llan quite a few books of rabbinics oth-drwise unobtainable). Stern College, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and the New York Public Library.
threatened to cause panic though it was hardly an epidemic. There were only eight confirmed cases in the country and three suspected cases.
Meanwhile, Israel Radio had a two-hour call-in show in cooperation with the Health Ministry. Its purpose was to dispisnse information about polio. The public was invited to phone in and ask questions of specialists.
interurban buses will be equipped with safety devices to protect passengers in case of fire.That^was one of several recommendations by a committee appointed after the disaster to investigate the vulnerability -of j^uses to terrorist" attacks. jta
T.A., Budapest become sisters
. TEL Ay.iy-Tel Aviv and Budapest will become "twin cities" next month, it was announced '■■ here.
Mayor Josef Bialek of . Budapest is scheduled to come to i Tel Aviv in November at the invitation of Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lehat for a signing ceremony that will mark the first twinning of Israeli and Eastern bloc cities.
The idea was raised by the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, Yigal Griffel, on a visit to Hungary in August. That was well before Hungary re-established diplomatic relations with Israel last month after a 22-year hiatus.
Formal agreement was reached in talks concluded in Budapest between the local authorities and Hungarian-borii Tel Aviv city councilman David Admon. jta
Israel Sun
BODY SEARCH in Gaza: follbiwing several cases of Arab knife attacks inside local administration offices, aii people ehterihg are frisiced for concealed weapons.
was activisi in intifada
JERUiSALEM —A trusted Arab employee at a niilitary garage in the Gaza Strip has been exposed as ah intifada activist and arrested, Ma'ar/v reported. ,
The newspaper identified the man as Naji Mohammad al-Rajab, who for many years was foreman of the garage where Israel Defense Force vehicles are repaired in Rafah.
Soldiers felt secure talking to^ him, Ma'ariv said. It quoted one as saying, "We used to say such things as, 'Naji, why don't you repair this command car first, we
need it for ah operation in a refugee campV
But Naji, who had security clearances from IDF top brass, turned out to be a senior member of a "popular committee," the cells that supervise the Palestinian Arab uprising, A/a'flr/v said..
His case highlights the risks Israel takes employing Arab workers, Ma'ariv observed. It quoted military sources who admitted the IDF employs dozens of Arabs at its Gaza Strip,, installations,; all of wham passed security checks. ; jta
Lost documents shed light on early history of U.S. Jews
WALTHAM, Mass. —
Thanks to the discovery of more than 1,000 books and documents in a Wall Street safe, new light has been shed on the early history of Jews in the U.S., according to an Associated Press report.
Among the findings are evidence that early Jewish settlements across the continent were more widespread and permanent than had been believed, said Nathan Kaga-noff, a Jewish scholar.
Kaganoff helped unearth a private collection of prayer books, playbills, rabbinic writings and cookbooks held for decades in a vault until purchased for the American Jewish Historical Society.
Kaganoff said the documents show that early Jewish American experience was positive and that they wished to establish their own communi-
ties, not return from where they came.
Other significant findings include:
B Philadelphia, not New York, was probably the first U.S. city to foster a major Jewish community.
B Jews settled extensively in the Deep South much earlier than originally thought.
B In British Colonial America, the principal Jewish communities were all seaports: New York, Philade-phia. Savannah, Ga.; Charles-, ton, S.C.; and Newport, R.I.
B.B. opens Leningrad chapter
WASHINGTON — B*nai BVith International has opened its fourth chapter in the Soviet bloc, this time in Leningrad. The 35-member unit will be headed by 33-year-old Refusenik Semyon Akselrad.
"We are encouraged by this growth taking place in a more hospitable Soviet environment," said Daniel Mari-aschin, director of international and public affairs for* B*nai BVith. But, he added, "at the same time, we are concerned by the rise of Pamyat, a notoriously anti-Semitic organization. Consequently, B!nai B'rith will be lending its expertise in the area of combating anti-Semitism to our newest affiliates."
Seymour Reich, international president of B'nai B'rith, pledged to increase resources to nurture what he called "burgeoning interest in. Jewish culture among Soviet
Jews."'..: ,^
The organization will work to foster Jewish learning and provide balanced information about the State of Israel. B'nai B'rith's other active Soyiet units are in Moscow, Riga and Vilna. jta.
A funny thing happened «.»
PSYCHIATRIST: Sit down, Mr. Lichtman. Now what brings you here?
MR. LICHTMAN: People. Stupid people. Doc, I despair about the whole human race!
PSYCHIATRIST: Mmh. What is it that people that —
MR. LICHTMAN: They call me — crazy. No matter what I say, right away they holler 1 am a crazy! What do you do. Doctor, about such stupid, stubborn people? They won't listen to a word of truth!
PSYCHIATRIST: Mr. Lichtman, perhaps you ought to start at the beginning.
MR. LICHTMAN: Good! In the beginning, I created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void ...
LEO ROSTEN, HOORA Y FOR YIDDISH!
^tPCT^i,.; ^^^^^
Arab knifes Jew
JERUSALEM — A Jewish pedestrian was knifed in the back by an Arab inside the 01d;:Gity walls, but suffered only minor wounds. Yehuda Avrahami was walking from Damascus Gate to the Western Wall. He said his assailant leaped, shouting "Allah akh-bar"(G-d is great).
Bus set ablaze
JERUSALEM — Bethlehem was declared a closed military zone after two tourists were injured by stones and a tourist; bus was set afire by gasoline bombs. The tourist bus was parked empty near a local restaurant when attacked. Another bus a few hundred yards away was pelted with rocks, slightly injuring two German-visitors.
frozen Twins' born
TEL AVIV
Healthy
twinSi a boy and a girl born at Beilinson hospital in Petach Tikva^ represent a major advance in technblogy of in vitro fertilization and new hope for infertile couples everywhere. Infants were promptly dubbed "Double Frozen Siberian Twins" because their father's sperm had been frozen and the fertilized embryos, too, were piit in deep freeze. They are believed to be the first babies whosei genetic material, or DN A, was frozen twice.
. , ,. , . , i Israel Sun
TWO HEADS are sometimes better than one, observes Israeli communications minister Gad Ya'acpbl "It remlndii me of the government," he said aftergazing at stuffed bicipital calf, 'but all the tvvo^headed animal^llieard of died within two weeks of birth and yet the government still holds."
Mideast not Oft US-Russian list
WASHINGTON — President Bush and Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze discussed a wide range of issues during a recent 90-minute meeting at White House, but Middle East was not one of them.
"The Middle East was mentioned, but we didn't have time to get into that in detail," Secretary of State James Baker, also present, said. Baker, who with Shevardnadze flew to Jackson Hole, Wyo. for two days of talks, said he hoped to discuss the Middle East there.
Repulilio of Italy wInsHIAS award
NEW YORK — The Republic of Italy was honored by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society with its Liberty Awiard for its cooperation at Ladispoli, seaside village 22 miles northwest of Rome that serves as international way station for Soviet Jewish emigres.
"1 express recognition to the' Republic of Italy for the vital role it plays in the resettlement of Soviet Jewish emigres," HIAS president Ben Zion Leuchter said at a recent dinner. "As we rejoice in the movement of Soviet Jews to lands of freedom, we are ever mindful of the friends whose help has smoothed the way."