Ma'alot Massacre

   On 13 May 1974, a series of terrorist incidents near the town of Ma'alot-Tarshisah, in western Upper Galilee, left a total of 35 dead and 70 others wounded. Israeli soldiers, searching for the terrorist assailants of two civilians near Moshav Elkosh, caught up with the three-man Palestine Liberation Organization squad near Ma'alot. Killing three residents of a private home and then a street sweeper, the terrorists took hostage 85 students and teachers at the Nativ Meir School. Demanding the release of 20 of their comrades from Israeli prisons and safe passage for themselves and their hostages to Damascus, Syria, the terrorists concentrated all their hostages in one classroom and wired it with explosives. The Israeli government allowed the release of the 20 prisoners but refused to accede to the terrorists' demand to take the hostages to Damascus. Having reached an impasse in the negotiations, the Israeli government ordered the military to storm the school. In the raid, 21 children, 3 terrorists, and a soldier died.

   See also Arab-Israeli Conflict.