Four Palestinians were killed and about 50 were wounded in another weekend of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Tension ran high in Jerusalem, where an Israeli soldier was stabbed, and in Ramallah, where relatives of an American-born Palestinian youth found brutally murdered were blaming the Israeli authorities.
In Bethlehem, a 14-year-old Arab youth, Radi Salah, was killed and four other Palestinians were wounded Saturday, when a group of youths stoning an Israel Defense Force jeep in the public market came under gunfire.
Palestinian sources claimed the shooting was carried out by Israeli civilians disguised as tourists.
In other violence, the head of the West Bank village of Kafr Lakif, near Tulkarm, was gunned down near his home Friday. And a resident of Rafah, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, was murdered Saturday night.
Both victims were believed targeted by Arabs for collaborating with the Israeli authorities.
The slain man in Rafah reportedly had refused to hand over his magnetized identification card to activists in the Palestinian uprising.
The new ID cards, which every Gaza Strip worker must produce before he is allowed to go to work in Israel, have aroused fierce resentment.
The leadership of the Palestinian uprising circulated directives last week ordering Gaza laborers to stay away from work in Israel for a week beginning Friday, when the cards became mandatory.
ARMY DENIES HOLDING YOUTH
The strike was generally effective. Only a few hundred card-holders crossed into Israel at the Erez checkpoint Sunday. But another thousand applied for new ID cards.
The Israeli authorities believe the strike will fade before the week is over, because the Palestinians need their paychecks.
In Ramallah, the situation has been tense since two Israeli tax collectors were severely burned by a firebomb while driving to work there Aug. 14.
The atmosphere worsened over the weekend, after the body of 15-year-old Amjad Jibril Tawil was discovered by a shepherd Friday, in the industrial zone of the nearby town of El-Bireh.
Palestinians went on a general strike and army units were rushed to keep order.
Jibril had been missing since Wednesday. He was staying with relatives, the Tawils, who are one of the most respected families in Ramallah.
Family members say the body had a gunshot wound in the chest, broken teeth and burn-marks on hands, face and chest. They insist he was in the custody of the Israel Defense Force.
They base that claim on rumors that “someone who resembled the boy” was seen apprehended by soldiers. But an IDF spokesperson said Jibril was not held by the army.
Tawil is a U.S. citizen, having been born in Denver and raised in Miami, where his father, Hussein Tawil, presently lives.
The American Consulate in East Jerusalem and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv have made inquiries in the case.
KAHANE NEPHEW STABBED
In Jerusalem meanwhile, local police Cmdr. Arye Bibi announced that an 18-year-old resident of Bethlehem is in custody for stabbing a soldier, Mordechai Kahane, opposite the Jerusalem City Hall over the weekend.
Kahane, who is a nephew of Rabbi Meir Kahane, leader of the extremist Kach movement, said he was assaulted along the walls of the Old City while walking home from basic training with the Golani Brigade.
He said he was confronted by a youth who shouted “Allah Akhbar” (God is great) and stabbed him twice in the back and the hands. The wounds were not serious.
Kahane said he wrestled with his assailant, who tried to escape but was apprehended by a border policeman.
According to the police commander, the youth attacked in revenge over the killing of a relative two years ago.
The Cabinet was briefed at its regular Sunday meeting on the status of the Palestinian uprising, now in its 21st month.
Officials attributed the latest flare-up to a resolution adopted by Al Fatah at its recent convention in Tunis, to escalate the armed struggle against Israel. Fatah is the largest and least extreme faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
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.
