Israeli Officials Confirm Arrests of Bombing Suspects

The Israeli Ministry of Justice confirmed Monday that Ronald and Rochelle Manning, who emigrated to Israel from Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, were arrested over the weekend to stand trial in the 1980 death of Patricia Wilkerson, a Manhattan Beach secretary killed in an explosion when she plugged in a device sent by mail to her boss.

The Mannings, who live in the occupied West Bank territory of Israel, have been under indictment in the case since 1988. Rochelle Manning stood trial in 1988, after she temporarily re-entered the United States, but was freed after a mistrial, while Robert remained a fugitive in Israel. U.S. prosecutors said that because Rochelle Manning was not acquitted, she can be retried.

The Manhattan Beach bombing was believed to have stemmed from a business dispute. Authorities say Wilkerson’s boss at a local computer firm was the intended victim because of a dispute over the purchase of a new home.

The Mannings are accused of having mailed the explosive.

Although never charged, Robert Manning has been frequently named by U.S. officials as the prime suspect in the bombing death of Alex Odeh, the head of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee’s western office. Rochelle Manning has also been mentioned as a possible suspect.

Diplomatic disputes over the Mannings’ citizenship and the U.S. State Department’s reluctance to recognize Israel’s authority in the occupied West Bank have slowed extradition talks since 1988. But one hurdle was removed late last year when the State Department withdrew its objection to an arrest of the Mannings in the West Bank, said Michael Ahern, assistant inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Los Angeles office, the agency that handled the Wilkerson investigation.

Even with the Mannings in custody, officials stressed Monday that international law appears to preclude charges from ever being brought against either of them in the Odeh case.

Unless the Mannings are extradited from Israel on a charge connected to the Odeh case, they cannot be tried on that case upon arrival in this country, said William Fahey, the first assistant chief in the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

“The (U.S.) extradition treaty with Israel is very specific,” Fahey said.

An Israeli spokeswoman agreed.

“If the United States asks for (the Mannings’) extradition on this (Manhattan Beach) case, they can’t charge (them) or even ask about other matters,” said Etty Eshed of the Ministry of Justice in Jerusalem.

When the Justice Ministry brings the case to a Jerusalem magistrate this week for an extradition request, the charge will center exclusively on the Wilkerson case, she said.

In December, the United States asked for the Mannings’ extradition on the Wilkerson case, Eshed said. As for Odeh, she added: “Nobody mentioned it.”

The extradition proceedings, including appeals, could take up to a year, Eshed said.

Times staff writers Ronald Ostrow and Jim Mann in Washington contributed to this report.