Relative quiet prevailed in the administered territories Thursday, despite the expulsion Wednesday of four Palestinian activists from the West Bank.
The only serious trouble spot was Hebron, south of Jerusalem, where police used tear gas to disperse a demonstration in the center of town. A number of refugee camps were under continuous curfew, a new policy aimed at preventing disturbances from erupting.
Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said in a television interview Wednesday night, “We shall prove to them (Palestinian demonstrators), even if it takes two months, that they will achieve nothing by violence.”
Cracks appeared in the Arab general strike, despite efforts by Palestinian nationalists to have it continue. East Jerusalem merchants began opening their shops. Many Palestinian business owners said the strike was driving them to bankruptcy and called it “catastrophic,” according to Israeli media reports.
Shops in Ramallah were closed for several hours Thursday. They reopened, but only because Israeli security forces pressured the shopkeepers to abandon the strike.
Meanwhile, United Nations Undersecretary General Marrack Goulding had a second meeting Thursday with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres at which he reiterated the United Nations’ deep concern over the deportation of Palestinians. Premier Yitzhak Shamir has refused to meet with the U.N. official.
Goulding is on a fact-finding mission to assess the situation in the administered territories. He visited the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday, but the Israel Defense Force refused to let him enter several refugee camps that were under curfew.
Goulding was to have returned to New York on Thursday, but he has extended his visit. No date was given for his departure.
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.
