Concern over the fate of two Israeli hijack victims still held captive in Syria was expressed by Dr. Salvador Luria, this year’s joint Nobel Prize winner in medicine, in a cable to Avraham Harman, president of the Hebrew University. Dr. Luria’s message was read by Mr. Harman yesterday as the university began its 1969-70 academic year.
The Nobel Laureate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he shared the “anguish” of the University over the fate of Prof. Shlomo Samueloff and Salah Muallem who are held by Syria “in violation of all human and international principles.” Prof. Samueloff, a member of the faculty of Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School, and Mr. Muallem were passengers aboard a TWA airliner hijacked by Arab commandos last Aug. 29 and forced to land in Damascus.
(Reports from Damascus today said that repair work has started on the Boeing 707 jet which was severely damaged by a bomb placed in its cockpit after the hijacked passengers and crew members were taken into custody. Except for Prof. Samueloff and Mr. Muallem, all passengers and crew were released shortly after the hijacking. Repairs to the jet will cost S4 million and are expected to take 45 days to complete.)
Mrs. Shlomo Samueloff disclosed that she received recently a letter from her husband, the first in six weeks, delivered through the International Red Cross. She said on a radio interview that her husband said his condition was good but that he had had no visitors for four weeks. He reported receiving a parcel sent through the Red Cross.
(A recent edition of the Beirut daily Al Anwar carried an interview with the two hijackers, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who were freed by Syria. Asked how they were treated, they said, “We spent unforgettable days in Syria. Nobody questioned us. We were treated well, much better than we would have been treated in our country (Jordan), and besides, each of us got a cash prize of 1,000 dinars from the Arab National Bank.”)
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