Security forces mounted a massive manhunt Thursday for an assailant who stabbed and slightly wounded a 16-year-old Jewish resident of Hebron. No arrests were made.
The victim, Aharon Peretz, suffered slight wounds. He was treated at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, where he described his attacker as an Arab man in his middle 20s.
Immediately after the incident, angry Jewish settlers punched a Reuter news agency photographer, Jim Hollander, breaking his glasses. His wife, Rina, was pushed and badly bruised. Her wounds required five stitches.
The settlers contend that news photographers at the scene hindered soldiers in their attempts to seize the attacker. A delegation of settlers met later with Gen. Amram Mitzna, commander of the central region, and reiterated complaints that the government had not ordered the army to act vigorously enough to end the disturbances in the administered territories.
Peretz lives in Beit Hadassah, an enclave established by Orthodox Jews in the heart of Arab Hebron. He was walking with his 13-year-old brother when he was attacked. Several months ago, his brother was stabbed in the stomach by an Arab, but not seriously wounded.
UNREST ESCALATES
Unrest began to escalate in the West Bank after two days of relative quiet. Several incidents were reported in Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel, and Kfar Sava, a Jewish town.
Three Arabs were injured in clashes with security forces in Idna village near. Hebron and Beita village near Nablus. Riots began in Idna when local residents set fire to a bus that was about to transport Arab laborers to jobs in Israel. Security forces, attempting to arrest the arsonists, were pelted with stones. Border police at the scene opened fire, slightly wounding two Arabs.
In Beta, one Arab was lightly wounded when security forces fired on rioters. A number of Arabs were detained.
Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at an empty Egged bus in downtown Nazareth Thursday afternoon. No one was hurt, but the bus windshield was smashed. The Communist-run municipality condemned the incident, urging residents to demonstrate their solidarity with Palestinians in the territories by peaceful means.
In addition, a bomb exploded in the Kfar Sava central bus station Thursday, but caused no casualties or damage.
Meanwhile, 18 residents of Kabatiya village in the West Bank near Jenin were arrested Thursday in connection with the lynching there on Feb. 24 of Muhammad Ayed A-Ragheb, a 29-year-old employee of the civil administration accused of collaborating with the Israelis.
About 300 right-wing university lecturers and researchers in Israel signed a declaration calling for more support for the security forces. It was scheduled for publication in Friday newspapers and is intended to counter an earlier petition by liberal academics criticizing the way security forces were handling disturbances in the territories. The new declaration demands tougher measures and warns about damaging Israel’s morale and encouraging Arab extremists.
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