Up to 200 Arab Policemen Quit on West Bank

At least 60 and possibly as many as 200 Arab policemen on the occupied West Bank resigned Friday in what Israeli security sources described as a grave threat to the 20-year-old system under which Jerusalem has administered the territories captured in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.

The move came a day after the self-styled Unified National Leadership for the Uprising in the Occupied Territories issued a statement reiterating its call for all of the 800 to 1,000 Arab policemen on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip to resign.

The Arab policemen are among about 20,000 Palestinians who work under Israeli army and police supervision to provide services to the 1.4 million Palestinian residents of the occupied territories. The majority of them work in the educational system as teachers, clerks and administrators, but others are involved in the full range of government functions, from garbage collection to tax accounting.

Military sources, who confirmed 60 resignations, conceded that they are concerned that Friday’s resignations will spread through the police force and possibly into the much larger group of Arab civil administration employees.

“I think it’s too soon to predict,” one Israeli official said, “but it’s surely a graver situation than it was a couple of days ago.”

This official noted that until now there have been surprisingly few problems with Arab employees of the civil administration, but he added, “I cannot assure you or myself that it will remain so next week or in two or three weeks after that.”

Directive No. 10 of the underground leadership, which has taken an increasingly important role in the Palestinian unrest, said that its call for employees of the civil administration to resign “was meant for the police department only.”

But other leaflets distributed in Nablus, Janin and other West Bank locations have called on all civil administration employees to quit.

‘Hostile Atmosphere’

In any event, the Israeli official said, “every leaflet contributes to the generally negative and hostile atmosphere around those people.”

Last Sunday, the 40 Palestinian employees of the tax department of the civil administration in the Gaza Strip resigned en masse, although the authorities have tried to defer the problem by placing them all on leave.

Police Lt. Mustafa Adawi, one of those who resigned Friday, said in a telephone interview from his home in Bethlehem that Arab officers from the entire southern district of the West Bank agreed 10 days ago to quit if the pro-Palestine Liberation Organization underground leadership demanded it.

Offered Salary Increases

Adawi said that the officers had been offered salary increases but that they replied: “Money isn’t the problem. The problem is the situation.”

He went on: “It’s not just that we’re afraid. It’s a demand from the PLO. And the PLO today is responsible for all the Palestinians in the world.”

Adawi, 52 and the father of six children, said the number of resignations is continuing to rise, and that by the end of the day Friday, it had reached about 80 in the Bethlehem and Ramallah police forces alone.

Israel Television reported Friday night that the number had reached 200.

Adawi said that he personally was not influenced by the slaying of a Palestinian policeman near Jericho. The policeman’s body was found Monday, stabbed and bound hand and foot, in a refugee camp.

“That’s a separate issue,” Adawi said. “Maybe he brought it upon himself.”

May Have Crossed the Line

This was a reference to allegations among Palestinians that the dead policeman had crossed the line between routine police work and collaboration with the Israeli authorities.

Informers and other Palestinian collaborators have come under increasing pressure as the unrest in the occupied territories has continued. One was lynched last month in Qabatiya after he opened fire on hundreds of neighbors who attacked his home. He killed a 4-year-old boy and wounded at least 13 other people before running out of ammunition.

The army has been criticized by right-wing politicians for failing to respond quickly enough to save the Qabatiya man’s life, and as a result of the incident, security forces appear to have stepped up their vigilance.

Scores of residents of the Jalazoun refugee camp north of Ramallah were arrested earlier this month after threats to an alleged collaborator there. Israel Radio reported that security forces Friday up the homes of three Palestinians who were accused of leading a firebomb attack last week on the home of a collaborator in the West Bank village of Biddiya.

Scattered Disturbances

Only scattered disturbances were reported elsewhere in the occupied territories Friday, as the army again closed some major towns to the press during and immediately after Muslim prayers. It was the first time in three weeks that a Friday passed without any reported Palestinian fatalities from clashes with the army.

The Mufti of Jerusalem, the city’s most important Muslim religious leader, issued a statement accusing Israeli troops of interfering with worshipers by invading or blockading mosques and confiscating the loudspeakers used to summon the faithful to prayer.

The mufti, Sheik Said Adin Alami, called on Muslims “to defend the mosques by all possible means, despite the attackers.”

In the most serious incident reported Friday, the army said at least six Palestinians were wounded by gunfire as soldiers broke up a demonstration in the West Bank village of Beit Ummar.