Two Palestinians were killed by the Israel Defense Force over the weekend. Rioting intensified in the administered territories and resumed in East Jerusalem for the first time in many weeks.
Arab sources reported 24 Palestinians were wounded. But exhortations to civil disobedience by the Palestinian nationalist leadership went largely unheeded Sunday, Israeli authorities claimed.
In East Jerusalem, a policeman was injured and the windshield of a police van was smashed. The disturbances began Saturday afternoon, when youngsters leaving school erected roadblocks on the main thoroughfare, Saladin Street, and stoned police. Disturbances were reported elsewhere in the city.
Both Palestinian fatalities occurred on Friday. The victims were identified as Tayssir Ode, 24, of Beit Furik village, near Nablus, and Riad Khaled Mohammed Yussuf, 17, killed at the Khan Yunis refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip.
Disturbances broke out in Beit Furik when a large IDF unit arrived to demolish the home of a resident, Ahmed Abu Said Hanani, who is implicated in the 1986 murder of the Israeli-appointed mayor of Nablus, Zafer al-Masri.
The soldiers were surrounded by an angry crowd throwing stones and bottles, according to a military source. They felt threatened and opened fire, the source said.
Five villagers were wounded, including Ode, who died later in a hospital.
The fatal shooting in Khan Yunis occurred when an IDF patrol reportedly was attacked with gasoline bombs by local youths.
Two gasoline bombs were thrown at an Israeli bus in the West Bank on Saturday night, causing damage. A passenger was treated for shock.
SEVEN HOMES DEMOLISHED
The continuing attacks with gasoline bombs met with a tough response. The IDF demolished seven houses in various West Bank localities and sealed off another five. The owners reportedly were caught with gasoline bombs.
Four Palestinians in Jericho were arrested Friday before troops sealed off their homes. Last week, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin gave orders to shoot to kill anyone with a gasoline bomb.
Now security sources are expressing concern that the Palestinian uprising may escalate to the use of firearms by the Palestinians. So far, only one soldier has been fatally shot by a Palestinian since the uprising began last Dec. 9.
Despite the escalating unrest and orders from the underground leadership, most Palestinians are observing the law. Long lines were seen Sunday outside the offices of the civil administration in the West Bank.
The local residents came to pay their taxes or transact other business. Similarly, long lines of people waited in the Gaza Strip to receive new identity cards.
Israeli officials also chose Sunday to improve their contacts with local Arabs.
Brig. Gen. Shaike Erez, head of the civil administration in the West Bank, met Sunday with 130 merchants in the Ramallah district. Ramallah has been most prone to observing commercial strikes.
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