The New York Times · 5 March 1984

CP-1984-041

6 Arabs Wounded in West Bank When Gunmen Open Fire on Bus

By DAVID K. SHIPLER, Special to The New York Times

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Transcribed from the clipping

JERUSALEM, March 4 — At least six Arabs were wounded today when three or four masked gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at a crowded bus traveling along a narrow road in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Shell casings from American-made M-16 and Israeli-made Galil rifles were found at the scene, an Israeli Army spokesman said.

In Jerusalem, a hand grenade exploded outside the Hospice, the Old City’s only hospital, which serves Arabs. No injuries were reported. Two hand grenades were detonated outside a clothing store in Jewish West Jerusalem last week, wounding 21 people.

Today’s assaults were the latest in a series of attacks on Arabs that have led to official concern about the possibility that Jewish terrorists are operating in the West Bank. Last July, three or four masked men ran into the Islamic College in the West Bank city of Hebron, threw a hand grenade and fired automatic weapons, killing 3 Arabs and wounding 33.

Nobody has been arrested. 14 Grenades Found From December through February, 14 grenades were found rigged near the entrances of churches, mosques and Arab houses. On Jan. 27 Moslem guards foiled an attempt by intruders to plant explosives at the holiest Moslem shrines in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock and Al Aksa Mosque. There have been no arrests.

The grenade incidents against Arabs were followed by telephone calls to news organizations claiming that a group called Terror Against Terror was responsible. The caller, a man, usually described the actions as revenge for attacks on Jews. Today’s ambush on the bus came at about 6:30 A.M., an hour at which many West Bank residents head for work.

According to the Palestine Press Service, a group of Arab journalists, the bus was jammed with men from the village of El Mizrah El Sharqia, near Ramallah, north of Jerusalem. It was traveling on a winding road through the hills, near a military base and the Jewish settlement of Ofra, when three or four masked men opened fire from both sides of the road.

The driver barely prevented the bus from going into a ravine. The army spokesman put the number of wounded at six, but Palestine Press named seven wounded, from ages 22 to 63, and said three were in critical condition. They were taken to Ramallah Hospital, where one man’s arm was amputated, and two others were being treated for head wounds. Dr.

Abdel Rachim said the hospital had been ordered by the Israeli military government to say nothing publicly about the matter.

How this transcription was made

Transcribed from the slide scan by a reader working off magnified crops, not by optical character recognition. The newspaper is printed on the clipping, in the credit line “Special to The New York Times” under the byline. There is no masthead, no folio and no printed year. The day and month come from the printed dateline, “JERUSALEM, March 4”; the year comes from the hand-typed slide label, corroborated by the article’s reference to the Hebron Islamic College attack of July 1983 as “Last July” and, independently, by the archive’s own three other records of this same incident dated 5 March 1984. The article prints two different counts of the wounded and attributes each: six, from the Israeli army, and seven, from the Palestine Press Service. The headline takes the army figure.

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