Surge in Violence Seen in Arab Uprising

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops under rock and firebomb attack shot three West Bank Palestinians to death and wounded at least six Wednesday in a continuation of a violent surge in the seven-month-old Arab uprising that has seen the pace of fatalities return to the level of April.

Including Wednesday’s victims, the latest violence has taken the lives of 14 Palestinians in as many days and 16 for the month, up from 14 in June. The one-a-day rate of fatalities for the last two weeks reflects a level that has not been seen here for three months.

“There are a few more incidents,” a senior Israeli military official conceded. “And in some cases the Palestinians are getting bolder.”

Stepped-Up Effort

The official said he could offer no explanation for the change, although it corresponds with what he termed a stepped-up army effort “to try to reinforce law and order in the area” by means of administrative measures.

The latest fatalities brought to at least 216 the number of Palestinians killed in uprising-related incidents. At least 172 were killed in clashes with troops, the army confirms, and a number of other deaths that allegedly occurred at the hands of the military are still under investigation. Twelve Palestinians have been shot to death by Israeli civilians, and three Israelis have died in the violence.

In one incident Wednesday, troops opened fire on a man who tried to throw a firebomb at them in the West Bank village of Shuyukh, near Hebron, according to an army spokesman. Three other Palestinians were wounded in the clash, the army said.

Arab sources identified the dead man as Zaki Halaykeh, 22, and put the number of wounded in the incident at 10, including several people hurt by rubber bullets.

In the northern West Bank town of Janin, two men were killed and three were wounded in a separate clash. The army confirmed the casualties but said the circumstances were not clear.

Cars Stoned

Palestinian sources said troops opened fire to disperse youths who had been stoning the cars of Jewish settlers on the West Bank. They identified the slain men as Hisham Zaid, 20, and Fuad Bassam Aradi, whose age was not immediately known.

There were also clashes Wednesday between police and Palestinian demonstrators in mostly Arab East Jerusalem, where a Christian Arab youth from the walled Old City was shot to death the day before. The youth, Nidal Rabadi, 15, was the first resident of Jerusalem killed since the unrest began last Dec. 9.

Rabadi was shot while riding his bicycle in suburban Beit Hanina. One report said soldiers had killed him when they opened fire at protesters, but other versions blamed Israeli civilians who were allegedly being attacked by stone throwers in the area.

2 Officers Injured

Two border police officers were injured, one seriously, after the boy’s funeral Tuesday when security forces clashed with protesters in the Old City.

The protests continued Wednesday morning, with Arab merchants on the main Salah Eddin shopping street going on strike. A witness said Palestinian pedestrians stoned three Israeli police cars on the street, smashing their windows.

Also in East Jerusalem, a witness reported that an Arab youth grabbed the pistol of a plainclothes Israeli security officer. As he ran away, a second officer fired warning shots in the air. The youth threw the pistol down as he fled, the witness said.

In a separate development, Palestinian sources said security officers arrested Dr. Amin Khatib, the head of the Federation of West Bank Charitable Societies, under a three-month administrative detention order. The arrest was reportedly part of an Israeli effort to cut off funds allegedly being funneled into the West Bank through European charitable institutions.