“Land Day” passed with only minor skirmishes in Israel proper but most West Bank businesses and schools were closed by a general strike today and Israeli security forces clashed with Arab youths in several West Bank towns and villages. Shops and schools were closed in East Jerusalem but no incidents occurred.
“Land Day” is the occasion when Arab activists attempt to rally West Bankers and Israeli Arabs to demonstrate in protest against government expropriation of Arab lands in Galilee and to commemorate the deaths of six Israeli Arabs in riots there last March 30.
But the call for a general work stoppage and school shut-down was largely unheeded by Israeli Arabs. A protest meeting called at Baka el-Garbiya, a large Israeli-Arab village, was poorly attended. Some 3000 participants showed up although many more were expected. Israeli sources said that about 60 percent of West Bank Arabs employed in Israel reported for work today.
INCIDENTS ON WEST BANK
But five Arab youths were arrested after a stone-throwing incident with police in one Arab village. Youths from the village of Kefar Kassem, north of Tel Aviv, refused to attend school and blocked the road to Petach Tikva with burning tires. They were dispersed by police.
The most serious incidents occurred in Hebron and in villages near that West Bank town and near Ramallah and Bethlehem. In Hebron a small bomb damaged a Jewish restaurant near the Machpela Cave, a shrine sacred to Jews and Moslems. Israeli troops firing tear gas dispersed several hundred student demonstrators and several dozen were detained. Police removed a roadblock of burning tires near Tamra village but no injuries or arrests were reported. In Nablus, the largest West Bank town, groups of youths were dispersed after setting fire to tires on the main street, but there were no injuries.
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