Israel Defies World Pleas, Expels 4 West Bank Arabs

Israel today defied international pleas against deportation and expelled to Lebanon four West Bank Palestinians accused of inciting recent violent unrest in the occupied territories, the army said.

The four Arabs were flown north by helicopter and then driven to the northern border of Israel’s “security zone” in southern Lebanon and at 4 p.m. told to walk north, state-run Israel Radio reported.

The Israeli army did not inform U.N. peacekeepers in the area of the release, said Timor Goksel, a spokesman for the U.N. Interim Force in southern Lebanon.

Goksel said his peacekeepers did not spot the men, who were among nine Palestinians banished from the occupied territories for “incitement and subversive activity on behalf of terrorist organizations.” The other five have appeals pending.

The deportations came as the death toll in the wave of violence in the occupied territories rose to at least 34 today with the killing of two more Arabs.

12-Year-Old Killed

In Gaza City, a 12-year-old boy killed by gunfire was brought into the Jabaliya refugee camp clinic, said a U.N. doctor who requested anonymity. Military officials could not confirm the boy’s death, but reported that troops attacked near the West Bank town of Ramallah by people throwing stones and wielding iron bars had opened fire, killing a 19-year-old.

And Israel said a riot today at the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip was provoked by the presence of U.N. Under Secretary Marrack Goulding, who was accompanied by television crews. The envoy blamed the army for sending in soldiers who fought stone-throwing demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The orders for the four Arabs’ deportations were signed by Gen. Amram Mitzna, commander of the army’s Central Command, which includes the West Bank. All other Arab countries have refused to accept any deportees.

The U.N. Security Council on Jan. 5 called on Israel not to exile the Arabs, saying the deportations violate the Geneva Convention. The United States voted with the council in the unanimous resolution in the first U.S. vote against Israel in nearly six years.

U.S. ‘Deeply Regrets’ Action

In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman, commenting on the deportations, said “We deeply regret the action.”

Despite intense questioning by reporters, he declined to expand on the U.S. reaction except to say that previous U.S. statements on the issue remain valid.

“This is an issue we’ve been discussing and will continue to discuss” with the Israelis, he said.