October 27, 1990

The Daily News, struck by nine of its 10 unions, began dismissing most of its 2,400 unionized workers yesterday and then struggled to publish without them, gathering an army of nonunion employees, some from across the country, to write, edit, print and deliver the nation's second-largest metropolitan daily. With scores of replacement drivers, pressmen, machinists and others already on the job, officials at the newspaper said more nonunion workers -- including reporters, editors and photographers -- were being flown in from newspapers in Florida and Illinois owned by the Tribune Company, the corporate parent of The News.

Three pilots who were intoxicated when they flew a Northwest Airlines jet were sentenced to a year or more in prison. "You are a good men who have done a bad thing," the judge told them. Page 6.

A report published today by a Government commission on the stone-throwing and shooting deaths in Jerusalem's Old City this month sharply criticized senior Israeli police commanders, saying they had not adequately prepared for the possibility of trouble. But the study concluded that the officers who shot and killed 21 Palestinians near Al Aksa Mosque were blameless. The report puts all of the responsibility for the violence and killing on the Palestinians, saying that "the use of live ammunition on the Temple Mount under the prevailing conditions was found to be justified because the police officers "were afraid for their lives." [ Excerpts, page 5. ] It says that Muslim clerics and others incited the Palestinian crowd to violence, and it calls the stoning of Jewish worshipers that resulted in slight wounds to 11 people "a terrible criminal act." But the report also confirms the findings of independent investigators that Jewish worshipers had long fled out of range of the Palestinian stone-throwers before the police opened fire. It adds, however, that the authorities feared for the lives of two Arab police employees who were thought to be under siege by crowds on the Haram al-Sharif, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount. The report appears to wholly discount the version of events put forth by Palestinians and several independent investigators. But it also does not substantiate the contention by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and other senior officials that the Palestinians who threw stones on Jewish worshipers that day were carrying out a well-planned attack intended to draw world attention back to their cause. Israel intends to offer a copy of the document to the United Nations Security Council in the hope that the findings will quell international criticism and the demands for an independent United Nations inquiry. But it seems unlikely that the report will accomplish either goal. The three members of the investigative commission, appointed by Prime Minister Shamir two days after the incident on Oct. 8, suggested some administrative changes, but they offered no recommendations for disciplinary action against anyone. The document does, however, include sharp criticism of senior police commanders. "In the hands of police, there was prior information about the possibility of riots at the Temple Mount," it said, adding that the response of police officials to that information was "routine and mistaken." The commission was headed by Zvi Zamir, a former head of the Mossad intelligence agency, and included two other former Government officials. None of them are considered to be clear political partisans. Arabs Criticize Report Reaction to the report was limited today, since it was released at the start of the Jewish Sabbath. But Palestinians called it a whitewash. "It's one-sided and expresses only the Israeli view," said Radwan Abu Ayash, head of the Palestinian journalists' association. Faisal al-Husseini, who is widely regarded as the top Palestine Liberation Organization representative in the occupied territories, said: "This was not an investigation committee. It was an editing committee with the purpose of making a formula for the position of the Israeli Government." Some members of the Israeli political left offered similar opinions, though in less categorical language. A Chronology of Events But Mr. Shamir said the report demonstrated that "the state of Israel examines itself, by an unconditional investigator, something that only few states do, and none in this region. "We will study the report with great attention," he continued, "and will discuss the conclusions and recommendations without delay." The report lays out a chronology of events similar to those offered by Israeli and Palestinian human-rights organizations, journalists and others. But its interpretations are different in several respects. For example, the report concludes that the police opened fire on crowds of Palestinians long after the Jewish worshipers at the base of the Western Wall and the police had withdrawn from areas where they could be hit by rocks. But it says that Palestinians continued to throw stones at others in a nearby parking lot. The report says that when a police force did finally break into the Al Aksa area, after leaving the Palestinians to themselves for more than 15 minutes, the officers were greeted by such a heavy volume of stones that they had no choice but to shoot their attackers. Victims Are Not Exhumed The report defies all independent inquiries by saying that the police were justified in firing volleys of live ammunition into the crowds. It offers several explanations for their actions -- for example, that the police were afraid for the lives of two police employees, an Arab janitor and a clerk, who were trapped inside a police building on the mosque plaza. Contact with the men was broken off, but officers could see that dozens of Palestinians were storming the building, and knew that firearms were stored there and that the weapons could be turned against the Israelis. In fact, both men were escorted to safety by mosque officials, and Palestinians never fired on the Israelis. Palestinian doctors said several of the victims were shot in the back, but the report disputes that without giving the evidence behind its conclusion. All the victims were buried before the commission started its work, and none of the bodies were exhumed. Nurse Wounded in Ambulance Palestinian officials said the police had fired tear gas into the window of a hospital where victims of the shootings were being treated, wounding a patient and several other people inside. The report explains the episode this way: "While running, one officer fell down and because of that a tear-gas canister was fired from his gun. During its flight, the tear-gas shell penetrated the hospital. The commander of the patrol immediately apologized to the manager of the hospital about the tear-gas grenade, which mistakenly hit a patient" and "injured women and children who happened to be in the room." Another investigation, by the independent Israeli human-rights organization B'Tselem, took an affidavit from a nurse who was struck by two bullets while she was inside an ambulance treating a patient. The Government report says, "It was made clear to the committee that the police who were on the spot did not see the ambulance." NO REACTION FROM U.S. WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (Special to The New York Times) -- The State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said the Administration had no reaction as yet to the report's conclusions because it was still being translated and studied. Mr. Boucher added that the Administration still stood by its position that Israel should receive the mission from the United Nations. Asked if the United States intended to pass the report along to the United Nations, Mr. Boucher said: "We would hope that the Secretary General will take it into account as an expression of Israeli views. But getting it to the Secretary General is up to the Israelis." This week, some Israeli officials suggested that the United States might convey the Israeli report to the Secretary General, Javiet Perez de Cuellar, and that the American representative to the United Nations, Thomas R. Pickering, might then visit Israel to follow up on questions the Security Council members might have. Through such an approach, the Israelis hoped to satisfy the United Nations without having to accept a formal United Nations team in Jerusalem. The State Department, however, reacted coolly to playing such an intermediary role. The White House said that Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d would soon visit Saudi Arabis. Officials said Israel was not on his schedule for now.

Standard time resumes at 2 A.M. tomorrow. Clocks are set back one hour.

After nearly a week of intense negotiations, Congressional leaders and the Administration agreed today on major legislation that would eliminate most of the airlines' noisier passenger jets from the nation's skies by the turn of the century. In return for quieter airplanes, the agreement would restrict the ability of most cities and towns to impose noise regulations of their own. And local governments could impose arrival and departure fees on passengers and use the money for expansions and improvements at local airports.