Gaza Strip Arab Slain During Day of Protests

A Palestinian was shot to death in the Gaza Strip on Monday during a day of protests and clashes called by clandestine leaders of a Palestinian uprising who urged more attacks on Israelis.

The self-styled Unified National Leadership for the Uprising in the Occupied Territories had declared Monday a “day of fierce confrontation” to mark the 20th anniversary of an Israeli raid into Jordan.

In a new leaflet, the leaders called for escalated attacks on soldiers and Jewish settlers. It was published a day after the first Israeli soldier was killed in the uprising.

Leaflet number 11, relayed by the Palestine Liberation Organization-backed Palestine Press Service, also called on all Israeli-appointed Palestinian councils to resign or face popular retribution.

The leaflet also contained criticism of Syria for the first time, calling on President Hafez Assad “to correct relations between Syria and the PLO because there is no justification for the strife between comrades in one war against the enemies of the Arab people.”

Palestinian sources said the statement bore the political hallmark of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat’s mainstream Fatah movement.

U.N. officials said that Israeli troops shot dead Adel Ahmed Mudalal, age 18, in a demonstration in the town of Rafah, raising the unofficial toll of Palestinians who have died in 14 weeks of unrest to at least 99.

The army announced a new military law permitting any security prisoner to be held up to six months with less judicial review than before.

Palestinian lawyer Jonathan Kuttab, a U.S. citizen active on behalf of Palestinian rights, was detained for questioning.

Kuttab was charged with supporting an illegal organization -- a reference to an art exhibit at the Hakawati Theater, which he said included Palestinian nationalist work.