Travel Between West Bank and Gaza Banned

Israel imposed a travel ban today, one of several moves a moderate Arab mayor said would increase bitterness and hatred in the occupied lands. Hospital officials said soldiers killed two Arabs and wounded 12.

According to U.N. figures, 96 Palestinians have been killed since violence began Dec. 8 in the territories Israel occupied during the 1967 Middle East war, three from the effects of tear gas and the rest from gunfire or beatings.

As the ban on travel between the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip took effect, Arabs began a two-day general strike that kept most of the 110,000 who work in Israel away from their jobs.

The travel ban is one of several restrictions Israel hopes will reduce the underground Palestinian leadership’s success in running strikes and forcing the resignations of Arab police and tax collectors.

“What is the result? More bitterness, more hatred, more friction between the two peoples,” said Elias Freij, a Palestinian Christian who is mayor of Bethlehem, the West Bank town where Christ was born.

“The Israelis have to realize that after 100 days of uprising, the Palestinians don’t want the occupation,” Freij said. “If they keep rejecting our demands the unrest will go on.”