Israeli Military on Alert for Fatah Anniversary Today : New Unrest in West Bank, Gaza as 161 Army Reservists Protest Crackdown on Arabs

Sporadic protests broke out in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday, ending a lull in Arab rioting on the eve of the birthday of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s main guerrilla faction.

The army, anticipating renewed violence, shifted its security preparations into high gear. Meanwhile, 161 army reservists announced their refusal to serve in the occupied territories to protest the occupation and the recent crackdown that killed at least 22 Palestinian protesters.

The new unrest came the day before the 23rd anniversary of the first action against Israel by Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group, the biggest of the eight guerrilla factions constituting the PLO.

Israeli Officer Injured

An Israeli officer was slightly injured by stone-throwing protesters at Al Amari refugee camp near Ramallah in the West Bank, an army spokesman said.

The Arab-run Palestine Press Service said soldiers used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who smashed the windows of Israeli cars before attacking an army patrol.

In Nablus, the West Bank’s largest city, a protest erupted in front of the military headquarters where trials are under way for some of the hundreds of Palestinians arrested in last month’s unrest.

Reporters in Nablus said Arabs, mostly relatives of youths on trial, began shouting at soldiers who arrived in a military jeep carrying four youths picked up after another demonstration.

Some Throw Stones

Some of the crowd advanced toward the soldiers and threw stones, reporters said.

Troops chased some of the protesters down the street and arrested one man. Journalists said they heard the sound of rubber bullets being fired, but the army denied using them.

When the arrested man was brought back to the compound, the crowd rushed at the soldier holding him, and border police charged ino the crowd, using batons to disperse it.

Associated Press photographer Max Nash said one army soldier used a rifle butt to strike a man in the legs.

An army spokesman called the incident “a minor disturbance.”

Other demonstrations took place in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza and the Balata and Askar camps near Nablus, the spokesman said.

Death of 17-Year-Old

In Jabaliya, a hotbed of Palestinian nationalism, soldiers used tear gas to disperse a crowd mourning the death of a 17-year-old boy who died Wednesday of wounds suffered in last month’s riots, a Palestinian reporter said.

The reporter said soldiers beat some of the mourners. He said that five were injured and taken to a nearby clinic but that their injuries were not serious.

A general commercial strike marking Fatah Day was observed in Nablus. Israel radio said leaflets had been distributed overnight urging shopowners to strike.

Palestinian observers said they saw the renewed disturbances as a prelude to trouble today in the occupied territories, home to some 1.3 million Palestinians.

“I think this is kind of an early testing of the army,” said Elias Zananiri, editor of the East Jerusalem-based weekly Al Awdah.

Warnings to Palestinians

Israeli officials repeated their warnings to Palestinians not to challenge the army by rioting on Fatah Day.

“If they (Palestinians) try to put us to the test, we are absolutely decided to impose order and maintain quiet,” said Deputy Prime Minister David Levy, a member of the conservative Likud Bloc.

“We have enough forces and enough equipment, and I hope we won’t have to use them,” Levy said in an interview on Israel television.

But 161 Israeli army reservists said in a petition that they would disobey orders to serve in the West Bank and Gaza. They said they hoped that their action would pressure the government to withdraw from the territories, which Israel captured from Jordan and Egypt, respectively, in the 1967 Middle East War.

‘No Such Thing’

“There is no such thing as an enlightened occupation,” said Ishai Menuhim, a reserve lieutenant and spokesman for a group called Yesh Gvul, Hebrew for “There is a limit.”

“Every occupation is a vicious cycle of humiliation, resistance and collective punishment,” Menuhim said at a news conference where the petition was presented.

The reservists could receive a maximum sentence of 35 days in jail for disobeying orders, an army official said.

Hotels in largely Arab East Jerusalem and Bethlehem canceled their usual New Year’s Eve parties because of the recent unrest, hotel officials said.

“People just don’t really feel like celebrating,” said Amad Marwan, head of the Arab Hotels Assn. and manager of East Jerusalem’s Holy Land Hotel.

Parties Are Canceled

Marwan said all three hotels in East Jerusalem that normally give parties canceled them, along with three or four hotels in Bethlehem, the West Bank town where tradition holds that Jesus was born. But Marwan said parties for foreign tourists would go ahead as planned.

Meanwhile, Israel’s commander for the West Bank said Palestinians arrested in recent riots will be freed starting next week if today’s anniversary of the Fatah guerrilla group passes calmly.

“We will hold them in accordance with the law, the rulings of judges and the results of interrogations,” Maj. Gen. Amram Mitzna said.

“Within these parameters, if the situation remains as it is and the people continue to behave as they are behaving, we intend to start releasing detainees from next week,” Mitzna told the Arabic-language service of Israel television, which is watched widely in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.