Shamir Says He May Bar Press From West Bank and Gaza Strip : 2 Palestinians Die of Wounds; Settlers Ask Tough Policies

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said today that he will consider barring reporters from entering the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as two more Palestinians died of gunshot wounds.

Israeli measures to quell what Palestinians now call “the uprising” have been criticized abroad. Shamir said those who censure Israel from outside “like to see us beaten and hate to see us defending ourselves with force and remaining alive.”

“Nations which said nothing when we were brought to the slaughterhouses are now going wild when they see rioters receiving their due punishment,” he told reporters in northern Israel. “It’s hard to understand the injustice in these reactions.”

Some Cabinet members have said journalists should be banned from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Shamir did not reject the idea. “If it becomes clear that indeed it may limit the damage, I would be willing to consider it,” he said.

Israeli troops shot a Palestinian dead today, and another died of earlier wounds. Jewish settlers urged even tougher policies in the occupied lands, where 12 weeks of violence have cost at least 76 Arab lives.

4 Times as Many Soldiers

The peace mission of Secretary of State George P. Shultz ran into trouble. Sources said Jordanian leaders, who believe that Palestinians are entitled to their own negotiating team, rejected talking with Israel as part of a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.

Maj. Gen. Amram Mitzna, military commander of the West Bank, said Israel has four times as many soldiers there as it did before riots began Dec. 8. In keeping with army policy, he gave no figures.

Jewish settlers distributed 3,000 leaflets in Palestinian towns, working overnight to avoid clashes with Arabs, that warned of tough Israeli action against Arab agitators.

“Don’t be mistaken enough to think we are turning the other cheek,” said the leaflets from the nationalist group Gush Emunim. “The days when Jewish blood was cheap are long gone, as is the day of the slogan ‘Slaughter the Jews.’ Don’t mistake our intention. We are staying here forever.”

Gush Emunim urged Israel to impose emergency laws in the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War. About 1.5 million Palestinians live in the territories.

Army Jeep Attacked

Hospital officials said two Palestinians were wounded by gunfire in the Gaza Strip, and 50 Arab women and children threw stones at soldiers in the West Bank city of Ramallah, taunting them with chants of “We are the PLO!”

In Burin, a West Bank village of about 1,400 three miles south of Nablus, 50 Palestinians attacked an army jeep with stones and iron bars today, the army said. The report said soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets to no effect, then used live ammunition and Yasser Daoud Eid, 18, was fatally shot in the neck.

The day’s second death was of Mahmoud Batwi, 30, who died of a gunshot wound in the head suffered four days earlier during a protest in Jenin, a West Bank town.

Two Jewish settlers suspected of killing two Arabs on Saturday were freed on bail. Also released were four soldiers who were shown in a CBS News videotape to be beating two Palestinians for more than half an hour near Nablus last week. Authorities said investigations will continue in both cases.