Unrest continued and escalated on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem today in the aftermath of the Gush Emunim march. Israeli security forces wounded three Arab, one of them seriously, in a battle with stone-throwing youths in Nablus. Two soldiers and a policeman were injured by stones in East Jerusalem where security forces clashed with rioting students. Fifteen youngsters were detained. Reinforced troops also broke up demonstrations in Jenin and Tulkarem.
In the latter city, a curfew was imposed this morning and police arrested 19 demonstrators and curfew violators who were immediately brought before a military tribunal and sentenced to prison terms of 8-9 months and fined IL 6000.
Shopkeepers who went on strike in many West Bank towns were forced to return to their shops when security forces smashed the locks. The trouble in East Jerusalem was the first there in more than a month. About 200 Arab schoolgirls marched through the Old City carrying signs denouncing the Israeli occupation. Police broke up the march near Herod’s Gate but were pelted by stones. Youths burned rubber tires in the Old City. Foreign tourists were cleared from the area.
The disturbances were apparently provoked by the two-day march through the West Bank by some 20.000 supporters of the militant Orthodox nationalist Gush Emunim claiming the right of free Jewish settlements in the Samaria and Judaea regions. Protest demonstrations in Nablus yesterday resulted in the fatal shooting of a 55-year-old Arab by Israeli forces.
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