Strict Curfew Imposed on a Section of Jerusalem for First Time Since 1967 War

JERUSALEM — Police imposed a strict curfew on the small Arab neighborhood of A-Tur here Friday night in what was believed to be an unprecedented step to curb civil unrest in the city.

Senior government officials said the move, opposed by Mayor Teddy Kollek, was secretly approved in principle by the so-called “Inner Cabinet” of senior ministers two days earlier. They acted after widespread unrest in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip began spilling over more frequently into Jerusalem’s large Arab sector, the sources said.

Jerusalem Police Chief Yosef Yehudai told reporters that the action followed several disturbances in A-Tur this week, including one Friday night, during which residents threw stones, burned tires and blocked roads.

Picking One Neighborhood

However, the senior government officials said Cabinet ministers had approved a plan to pick one neighborhood as an example to warn the 130,000 Arab citizens of Jerusalem that the authorities would not balk at stern measures to keep the city calm.

Commenting on the curfew to reporters Friday night, Yehudai said, “I hope all the others will get the message.”

It was unclear how long the curfew would last. Yehudai said it was for two days, but an army spokesman said it will be lifted at 9 local time tonight.

The order empowering the police to impose the curfew was signed by Gen. Amram Mitzna, head of the army’s central command and the person authorized under the pertinent 1945 emergency regulations to take such action. The regulations are a carry-over from the days before Israeli statehood when this area was known as Palestine and was ruled by the British under a mandate from the old League of Nations.

First Since 1967 War

While there have been brief, local curfews imposed in Jerusalem following terrorist incidents, Friday’s action under the emergency powers was believed to be the first in response to general unrest since Israeli troops captured the eastern half of the city from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Kollek said he opposed the move. “We’re against it,” she told reporters Friday night. “We were not involved in the decision to do so, and we will try to do something about it.”

Israeli officials in general, and Kollek in particular, are especially sensitive to any development that reflects negatively on what they inevitably describe as “the special character” of Jerusalem.

Israel’s second prime minister, the late Levi Eshkol, referred to the newly united city just three hours after Israeli soldiers secured it in 1967 as “the eternal capital of Israel.” The Knesset (Parliament) formally annexed the eastern sector of the city soon afterward, and every Israeli government since has pledged to guard its Christian and Muslim holy places and to maintain Jerusalem as a symbol of the brotherhood of man.

Since the area was annexed, Arab residents of East Jerusalem have normally enjoyed certain civil rights that their fellow Palestinians in the occupied territories do not. They can vote in municipal--but not national--elections, for example. Also, they can be held for only 48 hours without being charged with a crime rather than the 18 days that applies under military rule in force on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

A-Tur sits atop the biblical Mount of Olives, the site of several Christian holy places including the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is said to have spent the night before his Crucifixion.

Two reporters arriving at the scene before 10 p.m. Friday found all roads to the village blocked by regular and paramilitary border police. “This is all a military area,” said one officer who turned the journalists back.

Police spokesman Rafi Levy noted scattered incidents in A-Tur as recently as Friday night. “There is a limit to the disturbances we will tolerate,” he added. “There have been problems in the area for a long time, and we decided it was time to take harsher action.”

There have been two major clashes in Jerusalem since Dec. 9, when the disturbances in the occupied territories began.

The first incident here was on Dec. 19, when Arab demonstrators smashed the windows of three Israeli banks in the eastern sector of the city and vandalized them. The second was eight days ago, when police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators on the Temple Mount, site of two of Islam’s most sacred mosques.

Unpublicized Incidents

But there have been a number of unpublicized incidents, as well, which have shattered even the appearance of tranquility that normally reigns here. Jewish homes on the border of Arab neighborhoods have been stoned, as have buses carrying Jewish suburbanites through Arab areas.

Israel radio reported that there were 600 regular and border police on guard around the Temple Mount on Friday after leaflets had called for renewed demonstrations following Muslim services and a mock funeral in honor of at least 36 Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire since the unrest began last month.

A few hundred youths and women chanted slogans and marched around the Dome of the Rock mosque briefly, but police did not intervene and the gathering quickly broke up. Attendance at the services was noticeably less than normal, possibly in reaction to official warnings that any trouble would be met with a firm hand.

Israel radio later reported that four Palestinians had been arrested after the demonstration.

There were also scattered incidents in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday, but none was serious.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, curfews were lifted from four refugee camps housing about 130,000 Palestinians. Residents had been confined to their homes for nearly two weeks except for brief periods to acquire food.

Four other Gaza camps with about 110,000 more Palestinians, remain under curfew. Two West Bank villages have also been sealed off, an army spokeswoman said.