At least a half dozen people, Arabs and Israelis, were injured as violence flared anew all over the West Bank today and Arab merchants observed a commercial strike in East Jerusalem.
Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in Nablus when a hand grenade was thrown at troops outside a local hospital. An Arab youth from a refugee camp near Hebron was treated for a bullet wound in his hand. He was believed to have been shot by an Israeli civilian trapped by stone-throwing demonstrators. Police are searching for the man.
Police dispersed rock-throwing Arab youths in El Hadr village near Bethlehem. Similar disturbances were reported from El Bireh, Ramallah, Hebron and Halhoul. Police said a security officer was hurt by a stone near the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem. Arab youths stoned an Israeli patrol on the Via Dolorosa.
The strike by East Jerusalem merchants was called to observe the first anniversary of the fatal shooting of two Arabs by an Israeli soldier who fired an army rifle into Moslem worshippers as they left their shrines on the Temple Mount. The soldier, Alan Goodman, a recent immigrant from the U.S., was tried for murder and is awaiting sentence.
Meanwhile, new violence was averted when Israeli soldiers prevented a group of Jewish religious zealots from entering the Temple Mount area to hold prayer services. Police closed the Temple Mount to all but Moslems. But about 40 Orthodox Jews prayed and sang nationalist songs outside its gate.
The latest unrest on the West Bank and East Jerusalem coincided with the arrival of hundreds of Christian pilgrims from all parts of the world for Easter Sunday services at Christian shrines in Jerusalem.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
