Demonstrations and sporadic violence continued Wednesday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as Israeli officials expressed concern about controlling the latest spate of unrest.
An Israeli soldier was stabbed and slightly wounded by an Arab at the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. She was attacked while sitting in a car.
An Israel Defense Force officer with her fired at the assailant, who sustained what were described as “medium” wounds. A curfew was imposed on the Tulkarm camp.
A curfew also remained in effect at the refugee camp at Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, where a Palestinian teen-ager was killed Tuesday in a clash between security forces and stone-throwing youths.
Inside Israel, meanwhile, a bomb exploded in the eastern outskirts of Kfar Saba on Wednesday. There were no injuries, but a telephone booth was damaged. Kfar Saba is an assembly place for Arab workers from the West Bank who have jobs in Israel.
Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered security forces in the territories to act “vigorously and fast” to break up demonstrations.
Sources in the defense establishment believe the latest ferment is linked to deportation orders issued Sunday against nine Palestinian activists from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The disturbances in Khan Yunis Tuesday began at the home of Hassan Abu Shakra, one of the nine ordered expelled.
A demonstration Tuesday by Arab women in the West Bank town of Kalkilya was to protest the pending deportation of Jamal, Jabara, according to Palestinian sources quoted by Haaretz.
Similarly, riots at the Kalandriya refugee camp near Jerusalem this week were triggered by the deportation order against Adil Hamad, the sources said.
Senior defense officials are said to be deeply concerned that the new wave of violence in the territories will continue, Haaretz reported Wednesday.
DEPORTATION HEARINGS BEGIN
Meanwhile, military review boards in Nablus and Gaza convened Wednesday to begin hearing the appeals of the nine Palestinians slated for deportation.
The four from the Gaza Strip are on a hunger strike. The attorney for one of them said the hunger strike would continue until death, because they want to be buried in Gazan soil.
The nine cabled the Soviet government, the Vatican and the United Nations Security Council Tuesday asking for their support.
The fact that unrest has continued, contrary to expectations in official quarters that it would taper off, prompted the Mapam daily Al Hamishmar to question the efficacy of deportation as a deterrent.
The paper also raised the question of where the deportees would be sent. Jordan, Egypt and Syria have already stated flatly they would not accept Palestinians ousted by Israel. Lebanon appears to be the only alternative. The government in Beirut is too weak to offer effective opposition.
It therefore seems likely that if the nine Palestinians are expelled they will be sent to an area of Lebanon north of the security zone where, according to Israeli officials, their lives will not be in danger, Al Hamishmar reported.
Haaretz also reported Wednesday that the deportees would be sent to Lebanon if their appeals before the military review boards fail. The prospective deportees also may appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court. Past practice indicates that although the high court has never overruled a defense establishment decision to deport, it has intervened with respect to destination, taking into consideration the safety of the deportees.
As the military review board hearings began, the IDF announced that it has already released more than 350 of some 1,000 Palestinians taken into custody during three weeks of rioting in the territories.
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