Boy, 12, a Victim : 4 Killed in Melees With Israeli Army

Young Arabs went from weekly Muslim prayers to street war with Israeli soldiers Friday, and four Palestinians were killed in melees that swept the occupied territories.

U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz met with Israeli leaders to explore new peace proposals in the second day of his mission to the Middle East.

Friday’s dead included a 12-year-old boy accidentally hit by a piece of concrete thrown by protesters outside a Gaza Strip mosque, the army said. Hospital officials said Israeli gunfire wounded 11 Arabs.

The army reported the arrests of four soldiers on charges of beating and kicking two young Palestinians who had been detained, as shown in footage taken Thursday in Nablus by a CBS News crew.

Commander Shocked

“We were shocked and couldn’t say a word after we saw this film,” said Maj. Gen. Amram Mitzna, the army’s West Bank commander.

Mitzna said he suspended the unit’s deputy commander, a captain, and ordered the two Arabs released.

Before the violence Friday, U.N. figures listed 65 Arabs killed by gunfire and beatings since riots began Dec. 8 in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hundreds have been wounded.

Shultz is on a five-day mission to Israel and Arab countries with new U.S. proposals for stopping the violence and reviving Arab-Israeli peace talks.

He met separately Friday with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, partners and rivals in the tenuous “national unity” coalition.

The U.S. plan calls for immediate talks on Palestinian self-rule and negotiations by December on the final status of the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israeli sources said privately that Shamir asked Shultz to move slowly, recommending a three-year “time of testing” before negotiations on a final settlement.

Fifteen prominent Palestinians refused to meet with Shultz in Jerusalem.

Leaflets signed by the “United Nationalist Leadership for the Uprising” exhorted Arabs to street protests over the weekend as an accompaniment to the Shultz visit.

Haaretz said Syrian-backed Al Quds radio announced plans for six weeks of violent protest and strikes. The newspaper said Arabs were using firebombs more frequently and suspected collaborators were being targeted for attack.

A West Bank Palestinian accused of collaborating with the Israelis was hanged by his fellow villagers Wednesday.

Israel stationed 1,500 extra police in Jerusalem, doubling the force, brought in soldiers to help with security during the Shultz visit and put army units on alert throughout the occupied territories.

Violence on Sabbath

It did not stop violence on the Muslim Sabbath, sometimes instigated by prayer leaders.

“Thank God we are still alive to fight our enemy, Israel,” a masked prayer leader told worshipers at Nasr Mosque in the West Bank city of Nablus.

“This is the time that we have to use to launch a holy war. We have already paid a very high price, and we have to be willing to pay more.”

In Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp, the body of Iyad al Ashqar, 12, was brought to a U.N. clinic after a clash at Al Qassam mosque.

Boy’s Death

According to the army, a military doctor said the boy died from a gash on the head inflicted by a chunk of concrete. Initial army reports gave the cause of death as gunfire.

Hospital officials in Jabaliya said a woman was wounded by gunfire and 20 Arabs were treated for injuries caused by beatings or tear gas.

Ahmed Attallah, a witness, said soldiers broke into the mosque and took 30 people away after Palestinians inside began shouting, “Allahu Akhbar!” (God is great).

At Hebron, south of Jerusalem, hundreds of worshipers streamed from a mosque chanting and throwing stones, and soldiers opened fire when tear gas and rubber bullets did not disperse the crowd, an army spokesman said..

Cause of Death Unclear

Arab reports said Fuad Shaarawi, 47, was killed but conflicted on the cause of death. The army said it was not clear whether he was shot or died of tear-gas inhalation.

Razk Daraghmen, 55, bled to death after being shot in the right thigh during a protest in Toubas, a the West Bank village, hospital officials said.

A Palestinian was killed as a result of disturbances in Al Arub, south of Bethlehem, the army reported. Hospital officials and the Arab-run Palestine Press Service said Israeli soldiers shot Hassan Abu Kheiran, 22, in the chest.

Three Arabs were wounded in Jenin, also in the West Bank, after 3,000 Arabs staged a march that led to a clash with soldiers. Arabs threw stones and glass bottles and troops fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition, witnesses reported.