FROM OUR ARCHIVES

65 YEARS AGO

A large band of Arabs killed five watchmen at the copper mines of the Israel Mining Industries in the southern Negev before withdrawing across the Jordanian border.

A Jerusalem magistrate ruled that killing a donkey to avoid a major traffic accident was not a punishable offense. This stemmed from a case in which an Egged bus driver testified that the donkey in question stubbornly stood in the middle of the road as his bus was traveling rapidly on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. He said that he had the choice of driving the bus into a ditch or running into the animal.

A total of 21,499 residents out of 1.5 million elected to opt out of Israeli citizenship. It was reported that most of the applicants were from Austria and North Africa, followed by many from the US, UK and Persia. An Interior Ministry spokesman stated that more than 95% of the non-Jewish population in Israel would be granted citizenship as provided under the Nationality Law.

50 YEARS AGO

Six Egyptian warplanes were shot down and a number of Egyptian artillery positions were wrecked with heavy casualties in fierce fighting along the Suez Canal over the weekend. Israeli losses were eight dead and 42 wounded. Two Israeli seamen were reportedly missing and likely captured. The day before also saw the first Jordanian breach of the cease-fire with shooting across the river, though there were no casualties. The Egyptians were apparently engaged in an all-out effort to sweep Israeli high-speed motor patrol boats out of the Suez Canal and its approaches before the UN observers moved in along both sides of the banks. In a meeting with UN representative Gen. Odd Bull, defense minister Moshe Dayan criticized the Egyptian delay in establishing direct contact between the UN observer stations on opposite banks. He also stressed that unless Israeli vessels enjoyed free passage in the canal, the waterway would remain closed to both sides.

The UN General Assembly voted again to demand that Israel surrender the Old City of Jerusalem, but a proposal calling on the Security Council to enforce compliance was withdrawn before the vote. Ninety-nine countries voted in favor, with 18 abstentions, and no negative votes cast.

UN secretary-general U Thant reported to the General Assembly that Israeli troops had attacked the UN peacekeeping force in the Gaza Strip shortly after the Six Day War broke out and looted its headquarters. According to Thant, Israeli planes, tanks and machine guns had fired on an Indian supply convoy, killing five Indian soldiers. All of the UN vehicles had been removed by Israeli forces and were seen in use in the Gaza area. Israeli authorities gave assurances that measures would be taken to prevent such looting and that orders would be issued for the return of all vehicles.

25 YEARS AGO

The showdown between students and soldiers at An-Najah University in Nablus entered its second night, with no signs of students giving in to IDF demands to leave the campus so it could arrest a handful of gunmen believed to be inside. The gunmen apparently entered the university to pressure students voting in elections to the student senate. – Daniel Kra