Attacks in Israel – Letter from Israel

LETTER DATED 25 AUGUST 1980 FROM THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE

OF ISRAEL TO THE UNITED NATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF

THE SECURITY COUNCIL

I wish to draw your attention to four PLO terrorist outrages which took place in Israel yesterday and today, Sunday and Monday, 24 and 25 August 1980. In the most serious of these incidents one Israel civilian was killed and twelve persons were wounded, six of them seriously.

The details of these four latest outrages are as follows:

(a) In the morning of Sunday, 24 August 1980, the atrocity resulting in the above-mentioned casualties occurred at a gas station not far from Jerusalem, where a bomb had been planted in a garbage can between two fuel pumps. The terrorist PLO immediately took responsibility for this outrage.

(b) Also on Sunday, 24 August, an explosive device went off at a hitch-hiking station just outside Jerusalem without causing injury. Responsibility for this attempt was also claimed by the PLO.

(c) Later on the same day, an explosive charge was discovered near a synagogue in Herzliya and dismantled by a police sapper. The charge and its detonator were hidden in a plastic box and covered with olives and cucumbers.

(d) This morning, Monday, 25 August 1980, an explosive charge was discovered hidden in a woman's hand-bag placed on the roof of a stall in the teeming Carmel Market in Tel Aviv. It was detonated by a police sapper, and once again, the possibility of indiscriminate murder was averted.

This is by no means the first time that this crowded market has been the target of PLO terror attempts – see, for example, my letters to the Secretary-General of 10 April 1979 and 30 October 1979 (A/34/175-S/13239 and A/34/632-S/13593, respectively.

In addition to this rash of outrages over the last two days, the following terrorist incidents have occurred since my last letter to the Secretary-General dated 11 August 1980 (A/35/387-S/14101):

(a) On 13 August 1980 two explosive charges were discovered and dismantled shortly before they were due to explode. One was found at a bus stop in the Jerusalem suburb of Talpiot; the other was uncovered in the town market at Dimona.

(b) On 15 August 1980 an explosive device was discovered at the Beit Lid Junction and dismantled without causing injury.

(c) On 19 August 1980, a hand-grenade exploded in a bus station in the town of Kiryat Gat, wounding one person slightly.

As is its wont, the terrorist PLO bragged of its responsibility for each of these incidents through its radio and news agency in Lebanon.

Given the character and aims of the PLO, as demonstrated again in these attacks, the Government of Israel is duty-bound 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

Permanent Representative of Israel

to the United Nations

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