Shops were closed and public transportation came to a halt in East Jerusalem and the West Bank Wednesday, as Palestinians observed a general strike under orders of the unified command of the uprising in the territories.
The strike was dubbed “Jerusalem Day,” protesting the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem. The Palestinaians were also protesting what they consider to be Israeli attempts to “Judaize” the eastern part of the city.
The Israel Defense Force, as a counter measure, placed roadblocks at the northern and southern entranced to Jerusalem, preventing Palestinians in the territories from entering.
Large police forces were deployed in East Jerusalem to prevent disturbances.
Near the village of Azoun, in Samaria, a youth who threw stones at an Egged bus was lightly injured and taken to the hospital in Nablus. The stones broke the windshield of the bus. An army patrol located the stone throwers, chased them and fired at their legs, wounding one.
Tension in the West Bank and Jerusalem mounted this week, partly as a result of the total curfew in the Gaza Strip, which continued for a third day Wednesday, and also following the riots at the Ketziot detention camp in the Negev Tuesday.
Two detainees were killed in those riots, and at least one was wounded, when camp guards opened fire to suppress the riots.
The Gaza Strip and the Ketziot camp, located in Israel proper, were both declared closed military areas. By order of Gen. Yitzhak Mordechai, commanding officer of the southern region, no reporters were allowed in.
CLOSED TO LAWYERS
Lawyers and representatives of Israel’s civil rights association who showed up there were not allowed to enter the camp.
As a result, rumors spread Wednesday throughout the territories about the alleged force being used by the army against curfew violators.
According to some reports, some 80 people were admitted to Shifa hospital in Gaza, suffering from beating and gas inhalation.
But army sources reacted tersely by saying that “by and large the curfew was observed, and minor riots were dispersed.”
A recent report by Amnesty International was highly critical of Israel’s handling of the “intifada,” but a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday that the Amnesty report was one-sided, noting that no Amnesty representative had any contact with any Israeli official before writing the report.
The renewed tension in the territories was in sharp contrast to the expressed hopes of Israeli leaders, who have said the intifada is entering a regular pattern with which Israel can cope.
The continuous curfew in the Gaza Strip was an example of the newly declared policy that army forces take initiative into their own hands.
Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin reiterated Wednesday the need to do away with the popular committees, which have become a key public body in the territories that aim to serve as a substitute for Israeli services and Israeli-backed Arab institutions.
Rabin announced Wednesday that Israel would use all legal means to curb the activity of the local popular committees.
Addressing a symposium at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Rabin said this action would be taken to prevent the organizers of the uprising from using the committees as a base, whose long-term aims endanger Israel’s existence.
Meanwhile, two more reserve soldiers, members of the anti-occupation Yesh Gvul movement, were imprisoned Wednesday for refusing to serve across the Green Line.
Sgt. William Danny and Cpl. Natan Gruenfeld were each sentenced to 28 days in military prison.
A spokesman for Yesh Gvul said about 33 soldiers and officers who refused to serve in the territories have been imprisoned so far by the military courts.
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.
