Two Palestinian high school students were wounded by Israeli soldiers during a melee in Nablus yesterday. One, with a bullet in his stomach, underwent surgery and was reported to be out of danger. The other was hit in the leg.
According to an army spokesman, the soldiers fired into the air to break up a stone-throwing demonstration protesting the continued shutdown of Bir Zeit University. The spokesman said an investigation of the incident proved that the soldiers had acted strictly in accordance with standing orders on the use of fire arms to protect themselves.
Other student demonstrators and their parents were ordered to the local Military Government headquarters where they were held until the evening. Schools were closed in Nablus today. The parents of the detained students were summoned again by the authorities and given a warning.
NINE ACADEMICIANS DETAINED AND RELEASED
Meanwhile, nine Israeli academicians were detained by the Military Government last Friday for attending a rally in Bethlehem on behalf of Bir Zeit University. They were released on boil yesterday after being charged with forcing their way past army road-blocks which had been set up to prevent outsiders from joining the demonstration.
The nine, members of the Public Committee of Solidarity with Bir Zeit, are on the faculties of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv and Haifa Universities.
They charged that the shut-down of Bir Zeit was a suppression of academic freedom. The university, considered a hotbed of Palestinian nationalism, was closed last month only a few weeks after it had been re-opened following a prolonged shut-down.
In another development, Ali Jamil, of Jenin on the West Bank, was released from prison yesterday after 7 1/2 years of administrative detention, the longest incarceration on record without trial. His release was ordered by the Supreme Court after it studied evidence against him. Although out of jail, Jamil is confined to his home town and must report to the police twice a day.
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