General sacked

Press, 4 May 1978, Page 8

General sacked

' NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv ! Brigadier-General David , Hagoel, commander of the 1 Israeli military Government ’ in the occupied West Bank, ! has been dismissed from his • post, the Defence Ministry has announced in Tel Aviv. His dismissal came after . an incident in which Israeli , soldiers threw tear-gas gre- ‘ nades in an Arab high school on March 21, the announcement said. The official announcement said that the Minister of ; Defence (Mr Ezer Weizman) ; had ordered an investigation into the incident at Beit Jal- ’ lah, where Israeli soldiers dispersed a demonstration against the Israeli invasion of South Lebanon. They were reported to , have burst into a school, ' shut pupils in a class room, i and then thrown tear-gas grenades, forcing the pupils , to jump out of second-storey ' window. Seven pupils were five of whom have still not . returned to their studies. The Defence Ministry • communique said: “After the findings of the i investigating officer were ‘ presented to the Minister of Defence, Mr Weizman de- . cided, with the agreement of the General Staff, to remove from his post the command;er of Judea and Samaria t (the West Bank of Jordan), ; Brigadier-General David Ha- ■ goel. “The chief-of-staff, Lieutenant General Raphael Eitan, also decided to prosecute two additional officers. Standing orders expressly forbid Israeli soldiers from entering schools and religious institutions. Lockheed trial Eleven persons, including two former Italian Defence Ministers, have gone on trial in Rome before the Constitutional Court, Italy’s highest, in the SNZI.6M Lockheed bribery scandal. The two former Ministers are a Christian Democrat, Luigi Gui and a Deomocratic i Socialist, Mario Tanassi, i both charged with corruption. Tanassi and Gui are accused of using their positions in influencing the purchase of 14 Hercules Cl3O military transport planes. — Rome.