More than 100 public figures on the West Bank, most of them known supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization, met in the East Jerusalem suburb of Beit Hanina Sunday to denounce the Camp David agreements and bestow their blessings on the Arab rejectionist states and the PLO.
Among those attending was Sheikh Hilmi Al Mohtassib, head of the Moslem Supreme Council in East Jerusalem who is known as a veteran supporter of King Hussein of Jordan rather than of the PLO. Most West Bank mayors were present. A notable exception was Mayor Elias Freij of Bethlehem, a pro-Jordan, anti-PLO official who was one of the few West Bank mayors to support the Camp David summit.
The assembled leaders rejected the Camp David frameworks, particularly the provisions for local self-government on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They demanded an Israeli commitment to total withdrawal from those territories and to Palestinian self-determination.
Anti-Camp David demonstrations occurred in several West Bank towns over the Rosh Hashanah holiday, most of them by high school students. No arrests were made. West Bank moderates were reported, meanwhile, to be working behind the scenes to counter activity against the Camp David accords.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
