BUS 300 AFFAIR.On 12 April 1984, four Palestinians hijacked bus
number 300 en route from Tel Aviv to Ashkelon with 41 passengers
and forced it to drive to the Gaza Strip. In Dier-el-Balah, about 9
miles (15 kilometers) south of Gaza City, the bus finally came to a
stop and was surrounded by Israeli military and border police units.
The terrorists said they belonged to the Popular Front for the Libera-
tion of Palestine (PFLP), headed by George Habash. Throughout the
night they negotiated for the release of some 500 Palestinian Libera-
tion Organization (PLO) terrorists in Israeli jails.
Just before dawn, an elite Israel Defense Forces unit led by Brigadier
General Yitzhak Mordechay stormed the bus. One young woman pas-
senger was killed and seven other passengers were wounded during the
rescue operation. Two of the terrorists were killed inside the bus. The
other two reportedly were wounded and died en route to a hospital.
The Israeli military censor banned publication of pictures taken by
two Israeli photographers that revealed the fact that the two “mortally
wounded” terrorists had walked off the bus unhurt. They were subse-
quently severely beaten, then driven off in a van by Israeli Security
Agency(ISA) agents, who tortured and killed them. The director of
the ISA, Avraham Shalom, supervised the action. The senior ISA
executive who oversaw the actual killing was Ehud Yatom.
The full truth of the matter was probably not revealed, but the Is-
raeli daily Hadashot, motivated by its need for sensational news,
published the details. The affair ballooned into a mighty scandal. Two
commissions of inquiry were appointed, one an internal ISA inquiry
and the other the Zorea Commission(1984). The ISA executive
maintained that General Mordechay killed the terrorists while beat-
ing them. Eventually Mordechay was exonerated with the news that
two senior ISA officials had lied. As a result, Shalom was forced to
resign the ISA directorship. His deputy Reuven Hazakand senior
ISA officers Radai Peleg and Rafi Malka also resigned.– C –
CAESARIA.See MOSSAD.CAPUCCI, HILARION (1922– ). In 1974, when he was Greek
Melkite Catholic archbishop of Jerusalem, the Syrian-born CapucciCAPUCCI, HILARION•5506-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 55