Attack in Israel – Letter from Israel

LETTER DATED 18 JANUARY 1979 FROM THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE

OF ISRAEL To THE UNITED NATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF

THE SECURITY COUNCIL

Further to my letters of 21 December 1978 (S/12978 and S/12979), of 14 January 1979 (S/13028) and 17 January 1979 (S/13037), I wish to draw your attention to a further PLO terrorist outrage which occurred in Jerusalem this morning.

At about 11.00 (Israel time) an explosive device which had been placed beside a grocer's stand in the Machane Yehuda open market exploded and injured 20 civilians, some seriously. The victims included women and children who had

come to the market to buy provisions on what is traditionally the busiest day of the week. The device was timed to explode in mid-morning, when the market would be at its fullest, with the clear intention of causing havoc and indiscriminate murder.

Responsibility has already been taken for this crime by the so-called PLO through its spokesman, as reported on Radio Beirut today.

This is yet another in the recent series of outrages which have been perpetrated by the terrorist PLO, timed, inter alia, to coincide both with the ongoing peace process and the meeting of the so-called "Palestinian National Council" which opened in Damascus on 15 January.

The PLO and its leaders make no attempt to disguise their real intentions, despite the efforts made of late to attribute a moderate image to them. On 10 December 1978, the Reuters News Agency reported Yasser Arafat as stating: "Armed struggle is our only road. We have no other road to reach Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv."

On 17 January 1979, Arafat was again reported by Reuters from Damascus as calling for an intensification of terror against Israel, "to defeat what he termed 'U.S.-Zionist plots' in the Middle East." This is of course standard PLO jargon to describe the peace efforts in the Middle East.

I can only repeat that given the true character of this murder organization, the Government of Israel is duty-bound, as I have indicated in previous letters, to take all measures necessary to protect the lives and safety of its citizens.

I have the honour to request that this letter be circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Yehuda Z. BLUM

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Israel

to the United Nations

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