Israeli authorities on Friday afternoon ordered the expulsion of 10 Palestinian activists — six from the West Bank and four from the Gaza Strip — who they described as key figures in the Arab uprising.
Announcement of the deportation orders was followed by a stormy weekend of violence that left three Palestinians dead and 31 wounded in confrontations with Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Both territories were paralyzed over the weekend by a two-day general strike marking the end of the seventh month of the intifada, the Palestinian uprising that began last Dec. 9.
The Israel Defense Force clamped curfews on several towns and refugee camps after bloody rioting. A Palestinian was fatally wounded Sunday at the Askar refugee camp, near Nablus.
An IDF patrol came under a hail of stones by a mob of Palestinian youths in the camp and opened fire on them. Two other Palestinians were killed in similar incidents, one in the West Bank village of Tubas, near Nablus, and the other in the Jabalya refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip.
The general strike, called for last week in “Communique No. 21” issued by the Palestinian underground leadership, was fully observed. Commerce, schools and public transportation in the territories were shut down completely Saturday and Sunday.
The Palestinians facing deportation have the right to appeal to a military review board and if that fails, to the Supreme Court. Several recent deportees waived that right on grounds that the military tribunals and the high court rarely, if ever, reverse deportation orders. But according to some reports, all 10 have decided to appeal.
The Israeli authorities maintain that expulsion is “the most effective sanction against trouble-makers” and have made clear they will continue to use it.
The 10 deportees, accused by military sources of membership in terrorist organizations active in the uprising, were identified Sunday.
They are Luai Abdo, 33, of Nablus, a journalist; Fathi Shakaki, 35, of Rafah, a pharmacist; Radwan Siadeh, 31, of Hebron, a union activist; Samir Sbeihat, 34, of El-Bireh, a journalist; Mursi Aweilah, 21, and Jamal Abu Latifa, 31, both of the Kalandiya refugee camp, near Jerusalem, and both local leaders of Shabiba, the Palestinian youth movement; Mohammad Labadi, 33, of El-Bireh, a union activist; an Ahmad Abu Mailak, 29, of Gaza, Mohammad Jarabli, 45, and Yusri al-Hamas, 36, all identified as members of Al Fatah, the terrorist arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization controlled by Yasir Arafat.
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