4 Palestinians Slain in West Bank and Gaza Strip Riots

Four Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in widespread riots in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip today as Secretary of State George P. Shultz put a Middle East peace plan to Israel’s divided leaders.

The deaths--two by army gunfire and two in disputed circumstances--raised to 67 the toll of Palestinians killed since an uprising in the territories began Dec. 9. The army said it is investigating each death.

A wave of violence, called for by the clandestine “Unified National Leadership of the Uprising,” swept the occupied areas after Muslim prayers today. Demonstrators poured out of mosques and attacked troops with stones, bottles and firebombs, an army spokeswoman said.

Live Ammunition

Despite a massive police and army show of strength, demonstrations and clashes erupted in Arab East Jerusalem and virtually all the main towns in the occupied territories.

In Hebron, troops opened fire with live ammunition after tear gas and rubber bullets failed to disperse hundreds of protesters hurling rocks and fire bombs.

One Palestinian died and at least four were injured, the army spokeswoman said. The Arab-run Palestine Press Service quoted hospital doctors as saying schoolteacher Fouad Ayub Sharawi died of suffocation caused by inhaling tear gas.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a 65-year-old woman was shot in the pelvis during disturbances in the village of Tubas, near Nablus, and died in the city’s Al Ittihad hospital, doctors told Reuters by telephone.

Refugee Camp Deaths

The body of another Palestinian, 22-year-old Hassan abu Khiran from El Arrub refugee camp north of Hebron, was taken to Bethlehem hospital. The Palestine Press Service said he was shot dead.

In the Gaza Strip, there were clashes in the Jabaliya refugee camp in which a 14-year-old youth, Iyad Ashkar, was killed. The army removed his body from a U.N. health center and said an autopsy showed he had been killed by a stone which hit his left temple.

The registers at two Gaza City hospitals showed at least 25 wounded Palestinians were admitted from Jabaliya. Five had been shot and the others injured by rubber bullets or soldiers’ clubs.

The latest deaths came as Shultz met with leaders of Israel’s bitterly divided coalition government to discuss a new U.S. proposal for Middle East peace.