Five prominent West Bank Arabs were expelled to Lebanon today after being charged by the army with incitement of the anti-Israel rioting that swept the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the past week. News of the expulsions set off several demonstrations and some rock-throwing in West Bank towns today and security forces were alerted to the possibility of more serious incidents after morning prayers tomorrow which is the Moslem Sabbath.
The five expellees are Dr. Alfred Tubassi, a member of the Ramallah City Council; Abd A-Razek Abdeblah Awda, a Ramallah merchant; Mohammed Kadri, a high school teacher in Ramallah; Atef Abu Ita, a Jericho high school teacher and Hanna Nasser, dean of Bir Zeit College north of Ramallah.
All five have been active in the so-called Palestine National Front, a political organization that has specialized in propaganda since the Yom Kippur War but until the recent unrest was not involved in violent acts. They were the second group of West Bank dignitaries expelled this month. The earlier group was sent to Lebanon Nov. 4, although in the past, trouble-makers were usually deported to Jordan Lebanon was selected this time, Israeli authorities said, because the expellees are ardent supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization and would not be received in the Hashemite kingdom.
Among the five West Bankers expelled today, most interest centered on Hanna Nasser who is regarded by the authorities as the key figure behind the recent high school student riots in East Jerusalem and Ramallah. Bir Zeit College is one of the campuses designated to be part of the projected Arab University on the West Bank. It has always been a hotbed of nationalistic activities, and it was from there that Kamal Nasser, a relative of Hanna Nasser went to Beirut two years ago to become an El Fatah leader. He was killed by Israeli commandos in Beirut in April, 1973.
PROTESTS ON WEST BANK CONTINUE
Students at the Bir Zeit campus staged a rally and sit-down this afternoon to protest the deportation of Nasser. As of this evening it was still going on. A protest demonstration in Jericho got out of hand and was broken up by police. In other West Bank towns, school-aged youngsters threw stones at passing cars and Palestinian flags were seen flying from a few school buildings and homes. Some students boycotted classes at a school in a Nablus refugee camp but no incidents were reported.
Penalties were imposed on merchants in Ramallah and Al Bireh who kept their shops closed in defiance of police orders. They have been denied exit permits to Jordan and the movement of their trucks transporting olive oil to Jordan has been temporarily halted. Police are still not sure whether the attack by seven armed men on a bus carrying Arab workers to Israel yesterday was the work of terrorists or bandits. The driver was robbed of IL 1000 and the vehicle was pushed into a ravine near Hebron.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
