An Arab commercial strike paralyzed East Jerusalem on Monday. But few incidents of unrest were reported in the administered territories, giving rise to cautious optimism, after a weekend of relative quiet, that the worst of the disturbances may be over.
Curfews were gradually lifted at refugee camps in the West Bank. But they were strictly enforced at most camps in the Gaza Strip which, combined with inclement weather, kept demonstrators off the streets.
Arabs confined to the refugee camps in Gaza were unable to go to their jobs in Israel, leaving farms and factories in the southern region seriously understaffed. Residents of towns not under curfew did show up for work, unhindered by rock-throwing youths who had turned many back in recent days.
But young Palestinian activists were apparently responsible for the total strike in East Jerusalem. Israeli authorities, trying to persuade merchants and shopkeepers to open for business, were confronted by a wall of solidarity and fear.
A well-known money-changer on Saladin Street, East Jerusalem’s main thoroughfare, had his shop burned down Sunday night for breaking the strike. The message was clear to others who might have considered business as usual.
EMERGENCY RULES POSSIBLE
Authorities are considering issuing emergency regulations against the merchants if they do not open their shops. The Jerusalem police have given them 48 hours to consider the matter, Davar reported Monday.
The strike was a response to the violent confrontation between police and Palestinian demonstrators on the Temple Mount last Friday, the Moslem sabbath.
The police action stirred Arab passions in both Israel and the territories. Leaders of Israel’s Arab community planned to gather at Shefaram Monday to protest what they called the “desecration of the Moslem shrines.”
They referred to police intervention when a group of youths emerged from the Al Aksa mosque after prayers, shouting religious and nationalist slogans. They burned Israeli and American flags and displayed the Palestinian flag, which is forbidden by Israeli law.
DRAGGED INTO MOSQUE
The police fired tear gas at the demonstrators. At one point, a border policeman, Ofer Spitzer, was dragged inside the mosque by youths who snatched his weapon and beat him. Police entered the mosque to rescue Spitzer, who was hospitalized for a broken jaw and other injuries.
Several other policemen were hurt in the melee. The demonstrators were said to number about 500.
Between 50 to 70 people were reported treated at hospitals for injuries inflicted by police clubs and tear gas. Two press photographers were beaten by police. Eight demonstrators were arrested.
Police Minister Haim Barlev, who briefed the Cabinet on the incident Sunday, was criticized by some fellow ministers for the alleged failure of police spokespersons to correct news media reports of the clash.
The ministers stressed that while the police were careful not to enter Islamic holy sites, media reports gave the opposite impression.
A Cabinet statement issued late Sunday declared that “the Israel Defense Force and Israel police do not as a rule enter mosques. Such was the case this past Friday, and will be the practice in the future as well. No act was carried out which could be construed as being offensive to the sanctity of the mosques.”
TEAR GAS REPORTS ‘UNFOUNDED’
The statement called media reports that tear gas was fired into mosques “totally unfounded.” According to the Cabinet, tear gas was used against rioters outside the houses of worship.
(A report in Monday editions of The New York Times, however, claimed that “television footage of the clashes clearly shows the police throwing tear gas canisters in the door of the mosque and one being thrown back out.”)
The act of dragging a policemen into the mosque “was intolerable behavior, offensive to the very character of the holy places,” the Cabinet statement also said.
It added, “The policeman defended himself and saved his life. The persons responsible for this severe offense will be brought to trial.”
Premier Yitzhak Shamir visited Spitzer in the hospital Monday and called him “a real hero.”
Members of the Peace Now movement demonstrated outside the Prime Minister’s Office Sunday. They planned a series of activities this week to protest the situation in the administered territories.
In other incidents over the weekend, stones were thrown Sunday at the car of Police Chief Superintendent Yigal Golan, deputy commander of police in the Gaza Strip. Two of the stone-throwers were arrested. No one was hurt.
At the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, meanwhile, Israeli officials found 40 residents of the camp inside a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) truck that had been allowed to distribute food and supplies to the residents during the curfew.
Senior U.N. officials in Israel are investigating.
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