Six police officers were injured Tuesday morning battling Arabs inside the Jerusalem district courthouse on Saladin Street. All required hospital treatment.
They were attacked while escorting a handcuffed Arab whose detention period had just been extended. An Arab mob estimated to number between 30 and 40 burst into a corridor wielding what were described as “sharp objects.”
The attackers, believed to be relatives of the prisoner, were apparently trying to free him.
Although they outnumbered the police, the attempt failed. But not before one officer suffered a broken arm and another was rendered unconscious by a tear gas grenade that was snatched from his pocket and detonated by one of the Arabs.
Most of the attackers escaped. Only four suspects were detained.
Nearby, two passengers were slightly injured Tuesday when an Egged bus was stoned on Saladin Street, East Jerusalem’s main thoroughfare.
A gasoline bomb was thrown at another Egged bus near the Atarot airport in Jerusalem. Another was hurled at a shop in Isawiya village, near Mount Scopus. There were no injuries.
There was scattered violence Tuesday in the West Bank, mainly in the Nablus area, much of which was put under curfew.
Two Palestinian youths were injured during a clash with Israel Defense Force soldiers in Nablus. Two soldiers were slightly injured in disturbances at the Askar refugee camp, near Nablus.
A CHANGE OF TACTICS
Curfews remained in force at the Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah; the Aida camp, near Bethlehem; and the town of Beit Sahur, which adjoins Bethlehem.
The Palestinian uprising is now in its eighth month and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin admitted Tuesday that the security forces have not been able to end the violence, though they have made road travel safer in the administered territories, he said.
Rabin spoke to reporters during a tour of military posts in the Hebron and Bethlehem districts. He also addressed soldiers and spoke to some Arab residents.
He said the tactics of the Arab uprising have changed. The organizers still attempt to whip up massive rioting in refugee camps and towns.
But more and more Palestinian activists are triggering clashes with soldiers in lightly populated areas, Rabin said.
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