Shamir, Peres Deny Involvement in Killings of 2 Arab Guerrillas

Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir today denied that he ordered the killings of two Arab guerrillas captured in a 1984 bus hijacking, and Prime Minister Shimon Peres said he had not been involved in any cover-up.

Israel Television last night quoted an unnamed senior minister as saying that Shamir, who was prime minister in 1984, gave the order to kill the guerrillas. Peres, then opposition leader, supported the decision, it said.

“It is not true but I cannot go into details,” Shamir told reporters when asked if he instructed Israel’s Shin Bet (Internal Security Services) to beat the guerrillas to death.

Peres told state radio that he had not covered up any information about the killings. “I did not receive any information . . . I do not deal with history,” he said.

The controversy erupted this week after Atty. Gen. Yitzhak Zamir ordered police to investigate Shin Bet chief Avraham Shalom’s role in the affair.

An Israeli passenger and four guerrillas were killed after soldiers stormed the hijacked bus in the Gaza Strip. It was later disclosed that two of the guerrillas had been captured alive and beaten to death by the Israelis.

Zamir’s call for an investigation has met resistance from Israeli leaders on the grounds it could jeopardize national security and the country’s ability to fight terrorism. (Story, Page 8.)