Galilee Strike Opposed

Thirty-five of 40 heads of Arab and Druze local councils and townships in northern Israel voted today against supporting the Rakah Communist-sponsored strike of Israeli Arabs scheduled for March 30. Rakah had brought Arab high school students and youngsters from villages in Western Galilee to pressure the mayors as they met in Shaferam. When the decision was made known, the youngsters stoned the municipal building where the conference was held and the parked cars in the area. Police were called in and one policeman was injured. Several persons were arrested.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Shimon Peres minimized the nature and scope of the recent wave of disturbances on the West Bank. They were “neither the first nor the worst we have faced in Judaea and Samaria,” he told the Knesset yesterday in reply to nine urgent agenda Mathia on the disturbance. Fight of the motions were referred to the Knesset foreign affairs and foreign affairs and security committee and one, by the Communists, was stricken from the agenda.

The letter referred to the death of Afant Ali, an 11-year-old Arab boy who was wounded by an Israeli reserve soldier in a stoning incident near Abu Dis village last week. Peres said the boy’s death was sincerely regretted but pointed out that he did not die at the hands of the regular army or as a result of Israeli policy. The reserve soldier who allegedly fired the fatal shots has been jailed pending an investigation of the incident.

Peres noted that the disturbances on the West Bank were mainly by grade school and high school youngsters, that adults by and large took no part in them and many tried to calm heated tempers. The Jordan River bridges remained open. Arab workers reported to their jobs in Israel as usual, Peres said, and neither fire arms nor explosives were employed by those who rioted in various towns.

According to Peres, the basic-policies that Israel established on the West Bank since 1967 have stood the test of time. He said the authorities have made it clear to the West Bank Arabs that terror would be stamped out and demonstrations put down but that the innocent would not suffer. Israel will not be deterred by the PLO, the Communists or by stone-throwers, the Defense Minister declared.

ATTACKS VIGILANTE ACTION

He also sharply attacked Jews who tried to take the law into their own hands, notably Rabbi Moshe Levinger, leader of the Orthodox community of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, who appeared on television last week to exhort the townspeople to “shoot to kill” if they were menaced by Arabs and who said the Arabs had to be “put in their place.”

Speaking over the heckling by some Likud supporters of Levinger, Peres characterized the rabbi as a self-styled “Napoleon issuing orders to the armed forces. He should be in a house of learning, not on television, “Peres declared. He said the government would not hesitate to take legal measures against Levinger or anybody else who tried to interfere with the law-enforcement authorities or who gave orders to shoot over television.

RAMALLAH, EL BIRAH CURFEW LIFTED

In another development, a curfew imposed on Ramallah and El Bireh nearly two weeks ago, was lifted at 2 p.m. local time today. The West Bank has been quiet for the past two days although schools remain closed in several towns, mainly because students have not shown up for classes.

The Military Government announced, meanwhile, that the West Bank municipal elections will be held as scheduled on April 12 and reminded all candidates that they must file their candidacy with the Registrar of Elections this Monday. The filing process will take three days and once the candidates are confirmed, campaigning will begin.

The announcement regarding the elections was apparently intended to scotch rumors that the recent wave of unrest on the West Bank and the resignations of many mayors and town councilmen would force postponement of the elections The registration process and the elections themselves are carried out in accordance with Jordanian into which the Israeli authorities have retained on the West Bank.