Defense Minister Moshe Dayan made a surprise personal tour today of West Bank towns that have been troubled by student demonstrations, school strikes and business shutdowns for the past two weeks. While Gen. Dayan was visiting Qalqilya and Nablus, a hand grenade was tossed into the yard of a boy’s school in Gaza by a terrorist who later told captors that he had orders to throw grenades in various parts of the town to keep tension high.
Shops and schools were open in East Jerusalem today where Israeli police yesterday arrested nine Arab high school boys and eight girls for trying to organize an anti-Israel demonstration. Seven Arabs, mostly teachers and students, were expelled to Jordan yesterday via the Damiya bridge for fomenting civil disorder in West Bank towns. Among the deportees was Kassem Muhammed Hijjawi, a Nablus high school teacher accused of receiving funds from the Jordanian Government to pay teachers not to cooperate with Israeli authorities.
Gen. Dayan walked into a Qalqilya schoolyard today where students were idle in observance of a school strike. He mounted a rock and talked to the youngsters in Arabic and English, asking them to return to classes. Their reply was, “When Nablus goes back to school, we’ll do the same.” In Nablus, the largest West Bank town, another school strike was in progress, Gen. Dayan conferred with the military commander of the area. Most Nablus shops were open today.
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