Eye-witness Report: Unrest on the West Bank

Arab students hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers in Bethlehem today and raised the Palestinian flag over the local college building. The demonstration, the first in years in that normally peaceful West Bank town, was the latest manifestation of unrest and militant nationalism that has been escalating all over the West Bank during the past ten days involving mainly high school and college-age youths.

Until now, Israeli authorities have tended to minimize the seriousness of these disorders despite several violent clashes between students and soldiers. Military patrols have been increased in strength, especially in Nablus, which this reporter visited to obtain a first-hand account of recent events. Nablus, the largest West Bank town with a population of 50,000, is a hotbed of pro-PLO sentiment.

But student demonstrations have also occurred in Ramallah, El Bireh, Tulkarem, Jenin, Jericho and in East Jerusalem. Arab youths roamed the markets intimidating shopkeepers to close. In some towns, schools shut down. In others, they remained open but students stayed away from classes with the tacit assent of their teachers who reported for work. The immediate cause of the disturbances was a ruling by a Jerusalem magistrate a month ago that Jews could not be barred from prayers on the Temple Mount. (See related story P. 4.)

The Arabs were further inflamed by the seemingly equivocal attitude of the government toward illegal Jewish settlers on the West Bank. A group of the militantly Orthodox Gash Emunim has been permitted to remain in the Samaria region under army protection and there are severe pressures on the Rabin government from religious and right-wing nationalist quarters to open the West Bank to Jewish settlement.

The reaction of the West Bank Arabs to the Temple Mount conflict and the settlement issue is believed to have begun as a spontaneous protest. But pro-PLO and other Arab nationalist elements have seized on the situation to agitate for increased resistance to the Israeli administration.

RESIGNATIONS IN WEST BANK TOWNS

Last week the mayors and town councils of Nablus and other West Bank towns–El Bireh, Ramallah, Bir Zeit and Silwad–resigned in a gesture of political protest. The Military Government refused to accept the resignations and declared flatly that the local municipalities would continue to function, noting that such gestures were not uncommon in the past. But Mayor Maazuz Almasri of Nablus, declared he and his colleagues would not withdraw their resignations unless the Israeli authorities complied with certain conditions.

These were to stop Jewish prayer services on the Temple Mount; to cease alleged harassment of West Bank citizens prevent Israeli soldiers from entering schools; commute fines and prison terms imposed on rioting students; and to end Jewish settlement on the West Bank.

The action of the West Bank Arab political leaders was, in a way, more serious than the sporadic outbursts of student unrest. It came less than a month before municipal elections are to be held throughout the West Bank. Israeli authorities hoped that the elections would be held in a peaceful atmosphere and would result in the election of moderate leaders, in effect repudiating the PLO and its claim to represent the West Bank populace. If the present unrest continues, the chances increase that militants and extremists might be elected to office in key West Bank towns.

NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL

This reporter walked through the narrow streets and alleyways of Nablus’ old quarter this week. The atmosphere was calm but tense. The visible presence of strong Israeli army units discouraged violence. But it was not “business as usual.” Many shops were closed in the morning obviously because of threats by gangs of Arab youths. But some reopened in the afternoon and the shopkeepers stood at their doors looking for customers.

Israeli soldiers passed by. The soldiers and shopkeepers stared at each other with curiosity rather than hostility. The local merchants did not relish the presence of Israeli troops in their streets and the soldiers obviously would have preferred to be elsewhere.

Suddenly, a platoon of soldiers raced at double time to a part of the old quarter. Grade school students had massed there and as the soldiers approached, rocks flew from street level and roof tops. The soldiers avoided the barrage and as the youngsters began to run in all directions, the platoon halted, apparently deciding that it was not worth the trouble to chase them.

More serious clashes occurred last week when a squad of Israeli soldiers invaded a Nablus school after a stone-throwing incident and allegedly dragged some students out and beat them before arresting them. Today, police imposed a curfew on Ramallah–usually a quiet town–in order to cool the spirits of young nationalist demonstrators.

Meanwhile, roads all over the West Bank were blocked by piles of old rubber tires burning. They were set afire by student protestors. They made poor roadblocks and were easily removed. But the smoke signals they sent up were a warning of possible worse trouble ahead.