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Two Teachers Found Slain in Israel Cave

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From Times Wire Services

The bodies of two Israeli schoolteachers missing since Sunday were found in a cave Friday, police said. The discovery set off reprisals and spurred demands for execution of those convicted of terrorist acts.

Yosef Eliahu, 35, and Lea Almakais, 19, missing since they left their school in Afula, a town near Haifa, had been dead several days, police said. They expressed belief that the two had been killed by Palestinian guerrillas because of a recent spate of such incidents.

Soon after the bodies were found, hundreds of people turned out in Afula and rioted across the street from the police station, according to witnesses. Shouting “death to terrorists,” they beat up Arab workmen and broke windows. Israel does not have the death penalty.

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Dozens of people were arrested, Israel radio reported.

Eliahu’s car was found Tuesday near Jenin on the occupied West Bank, with bloodstains and a bullet casing inside. The bodies, the hands tied to each other, were discovered in a cave on the slopes of Mt. Gilboa, six miles from where the car was found.

Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir called Thursday for imposition of the death penalty for terrorists. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin has urged return to an earlier policy of expelling Arab guerrillas. The Israeli Cabinet is to discuss the latest attacks at its meeting Sunday.

Other recent victims of terrorism include a Jewish couple who died near Beit Shemesh in June, a Jersusalem taxi driver killed near the Jericho road in April, an Israeli reservist bound and shot in April, a soldier killed while hitchhiking in November, and two Hebrew University students slain near the Cremisan Monastery last October.

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