Seven Palestinians were wounded Monday morning in a fierce clash with Israeli security forces in Idna village, some six miles west of Hebron, in the West Bank. One soldier was slightly injured and hospitalized.
Riots broke out in Idna after the Israel Defense Force imposed a curfew on the village and began arresting residents described as “hostile elements.” A hand grenade was thrown at a border police jeep, followed by a rain of stones, rocks and chunks of iron hurled at IDF troops.
Border police opened fire in the direction of the grenade-thrower, wounding seven rioters, one of them seriously. Several dozen residents were arrested.
Idna has been a trouble spot for several weeks. The IDF entered the village Monday morning to arrest Palestinian nationalists suspected of inciting riots in the territories. It is part of the military’s policy to crack down on local agitators.
The Gaza Strip was relatively quiet Monday. But Palestinian nationalists seem to have succeeded for the first time in launching a campaign of civil disobedience by the Arab population. The first target was Arab employees of the Gaza civil administration’s income and property tax division, who resigned en masse Monday.
About 38 of the 40 employees signed a collective letter of resignation. Although they claimed no Arabs would dare take their place, civil administration sources said tax collection would continue as usual.
Local sources linked the resignations to widespread charges that the taxes Israel collects in the administered territories exceed by far the budgets allocated for development in the areas.
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