World

The four Arabs who hijacked a passenger bus near Tel Aviv in April 1984 demonstrated that Israel's renowned security could be breached, but they paid for the terrorist act with their lives. Israeli commandos stormed the bus and shot two of the hijackers dead. The other two were taken into custody and died under mysterious circumstances. Last week Israel's leading politicians joined forces in a determined effort to bury lingering questions about how the , two captured terrorists were killed and by whom.

Under an arrangement worked out during an all-night meeting, Avraham Shalom, the central figure in the controversy, resigned as director of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency. He was immediately granted a pardon by President Chaim Herzog.

Three former senior employees of the agency had charged that Shalom ordered the two captured Arabs clubbed to death and then covered up the organization's role before two official investigations into the killings. Rising calls for a new probe were opposed by both Labor Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, head of the Likud bloc in Israel's national unity coalition. They insisted that an inquiry into Shin Bet's role in the deaths could expose state secrets.

Jurists, legal scholars and the Israeli press were appalled by Herzog's pardon of Shalom before he was charged with any wrongdoing. The decision was a departure from past practice, in which Presidents have pardoned only convicted criminals. Like Peres and Shamir, Herzog maintained that an investigation might have made sensitive information public. Said he: "I had to take the responsibility and decide, based on the public's welfare as I see it, according to my knowledge and conscience."

Peres' decision to go along with the deal left his party furious. Labor strategists saw the affair as an opportunity to involve Shamir, who was Prime Minister at the time of the hijacking, in a political scandal that might scuttle the power-sharing agreement whereby Shamir is due to switch jobs with Peres in October. Several Israeli press reports have suggested that Shamir may have had advance knowledge of the killings or helped cover up Shin Bet's involvement once he became aware of the facts.

The announcement of Shalom's resignation and pardon galled former Justice Minister Chaim Zadok, who had sought an investigation into the Arabs' deaths. Said he: "For the Shin Bet, the lesson to be learned is that you can commit serious crimes. For the political echelon, the lesson is you can do anything you please and will not bear responsibility."