The Situation in the West Bank

Curfews, mass arrests and the closure of Arab campuses restored order in the West Bank over the Passover holiday. But tensions continued to run high after a weekend of violence in which Jewish settlers rampaged through Arab villages destroying property and burning fields in retaliation for the fire-bombing of a car last Saturday night which killed an Israeli woman and severely burned her husband, three children and a young friend riding with them. The victim, Ofra Moses, 35, of Alfe-Menashe, was buried Sunday. Settlers from Alphe-Menashe erected a memorial at the site of the attack, between the Arab town of Kalkilya and Habla village, and established a vigil there. They were visibly hostile to Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin who visited the site Wednesday to try to calm spirits and answer their charges that security forces were not protecting Jewish settlers on the roads.

Curfews were clamped on a refugee camp in the Arab town of Tulkarem Tuesday and on the nearby town of Anabta where Arab youths had stoned Israeli vehicles. Curfews on Kalkilya and Habla were lifted. But Bir Zeit University near Ramallah was ordered closed for four months following a confrontation in which security forces killed one Arab student and wounded two others.

Najah University in Nablus was also closed, as was a nurses school in Ramallah. More than 100 Arabs were arrested in a police dragnet of the territory. Nine were placed in administrative detention for six months which means they can be held without formal charges filed against them.

Among them is Feisal Husseini, 45, head of the Arab Studies Society in East Jerusalem whom the authorities claim is a leading supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization and responsible for recent unrest in the territory.

SETTLERS PRESS THEIR POLITICAL DEMANDS

The settlers are using the latest terrorist attack to press their political demands. Rabin was confronted by a large sign urging the immediate deportation of terrorists released from jail in a prisoner exchange two years ago, expansion of Jewish settlements in the territory and a commission of inquiry to investigate security arrangements there.

“Today, in the area of Judaea and Samaria and Gaza there are more Israeli soldiers than all along the border with Lebanon,” he told the settlers. He insisted that security measures were quite adequate. He drew catcalls and angry shouts when he reminded the settlers that living in the territories involved certain risks.

The settlers declared they were living there with the full consent of the government and it was the duty of the State to protect them. Rabin said they were protected and said there were more victims of terrorist attacks in Israel proper than in the administered territories.

RABIN GREETED WITH SHOUTS OF DERISION

More shouts of derision greeted Rabin’s oblique reference to hooliganism by Jewish settlers against Arab civilians and when he insisted that law and order would be maintained by the military authorities. He warned the settlers that weapons they are allowed to carry were for personal protection only.

Settlers complained that talk in the government about an international conference for Middle East peace only encouraged terrorism. Rabin told them, “We are beginning to blame ourselves rather than the PLO.”

The focus of tension shifted to East Jerusalem Wednesday when a small group of Jews who call themselves “The Temple Mount Faithful” visited the Temple Mount which is reserved exclusively for Moslem worship. They came under heavy police protection. Local Arabs were incensed and one was arrested after shoving a police officer. He was released later when it was discovered that the man is mentally disturbed. Police, fearing a disturbance, ordered the Jewish group back behind the gates to the Temple Mount area but later permitted them to re-enter the site individually.

The Temple Mount contains the Dome of the Rock and Al Aksa Mosque, two of the holiest shrines in Islam, and has often been the scene of confrontation between religious Jews and Moslem worshippers. Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem protested angrily that allowing Jews to enter the area Wednesday was a needless provocation. He was furious with the police for not consulting him beforehand.