3 More Arabs Die in Unrest; a ‘Collaborator’ Repents

Three more Palestinians died from army gunfire Saturday, and a prominent former Arab “collaborator” publicly repented in this village near Bethlehem as the nearly 16-week-old uprising in the occupied territories intensified despite massive arrests of the alleged inciters.

In another potentially significant development, Palestinian sources reported that Hanza Turkmani, the Israeli-appointed mayor of Gaza City, had resigned. Saturday night, however, Israel Radio quoted unnamed senior military government sources as saying that while the mayor was under heavy pressure from “radicals” to quit, he had made no such announcement yet.

Turkmani could not be reached for comment.

Widespread disturbances throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Saturday were linked to a call by the self-styled Unified National Leadership for the Uprising in the Occupied Territories for protests against Israeli-appointed municipal, village and town councils.

The call came in the latest leaflet distributed by the underground leadership, and it is seen as part of organizers’ efforts to sever the economic and administrative ties that bind Israel and the 1.4 million Palestinians who live in territory it occupied after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Israeli officials have privately called the campaign a “grave” threat to the 20-year-old system under which Jerusalem governs the occupied areas.

Before the unrest began last December, about 20,000 Palestinians worked under Israeli army and police supervision to provide services to Arab communities on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The majority of those work in the educational system as teachers, clerks and administrators, but others handle a full range of government functions--from garbage collection to tax accounting.

Earlier this month, however, more than half the nearly 1,000 Arab policemen in the territories resigned in response to an underground call, and scores of tax employees have also quit.

Other prime targets are the Arab mayors and councilmen appointed by the military government to take over municipal and village administration after most elected administrators were deposed or expelled in an anti-nationalist crackdown by the military authorities in the early 1980s.

Councilmen in four small locations have already quit, but the resignation of Turkmani would be by far the most important yet. Former Gaza mayor Rashid Shawa, who was deposed by the Israelis, told reporters Saturday that Turkmani, who succeeded him, had resigned.

The latest underground leaflet urged “the masses of the uprising to severely punish those who do not comply with the national consensus and refuse to resign immediately.”

Elsewhere Saturday, hundreds of mostly young Palestinian demonstrators reportedly attacked the municipal buildings in Ramallah and Al Birah with stones. They carried placards and shouted slogans calling on the local councils to resign, Arab sources said. There was also a demonstration in Bethlehem demanding that Mayor Elias Freij resign--a step he rejected in a statement to the press.

Two Palestinians were shot dead by army troops in a clash at the village of Kfar Thulth, in the northern part of the West Bank, about halfway between Nablus and the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv.

The army said hundreds of villagers set up roadblocks with tires and stones and attacked an army patrol with stones, iron bars and bottles. “The army patrol was attacked from all over and they had to shoot to save their lives,” a military spokesman said.

Palestinian sources identified the dead as Majed Hussein Dheeb, 19, and Awad Qassem Ibrahim, 30.

A Third Palestinian Killed

Another Palestinian died Saturday of gunshot wounds suffered the night before during demonstrations at Zawata, a village about five miles northwest of Nablus, the army confirmed. He was identified as Ayed Saleh, 21.

The three brought to at least 108 the number of Palestinian fatalities from the unrest. One Israeli soldier has also been killed during the violence.

In the last 10 days, the army has arrested well over 700 Palestinians considered to be among the main organizers and inciters of the disturbances.

Authorities have also instituted many other new economic and military sanctions since early this month in hopes of quelling the disturbances. On Saturday, for example, they disrupted morning traffic throughout Arab East Jerusalem for the third day in a row. The disruptions coincide with the hours that merchants, abiding by underground instructions, open their shops and are meant to pressure the businessmen to defy the clandestine orders.

Fewer Disturbances

Security sources say that the arrests and other measures have resulted in a decrease in the number of disturbances, although the army refuses to release specific figures.

Violent clashes continue in the villages, however, and the death toll mounts steadily. So far in March, 32 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed.

Another target of underground Palestinian leaders has been to root out those Arabs it accuses of having crossed the line between unavoidable cooperation with the Israelis and self-serving “collaboration.” The latest leaflet declares next Tuesday a “Day of Repentance” by which “all those who departed from the will of their people will have an opportunity to return . . . and cleanse their consciences.”

Bishara Qumsiyeh’s repentance in Beit Sahur on Saturday was short, sweet, three days early and not entirely convincing.

Former Leader

The 65-year-old businessman is a former leader both in Bethlehem and in the entire West Bank as a prominent member of the so-called Village Leagues--organizations promoted by Israel in the late 1970s and early 1980s in hopes of cultivating a more cooperative local leadership as a counterweight to the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Village League members were given extraordinary power to dispense favors and crucial services to their neighbors. But they were nonetheless widely despised as quislings, and the authorities issued them weapons and armed guards for protection. While never formally disbanded, they faded away in the mid-1980s.

The public repentance of Qumsiyeh, his four sons, and four other former Village Leaguers in the basement of the Greek Orthodox church appeared more a matter of theater on behalf of the uprising than personal contrition.

About 300 people crowded the hall, facing the penitents who were seated at the front.

“I am proud of the Palestinian people, and I would be happy to be your servant,” said the businessman, who was dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt, tie and spotless white kaffiyeh headdress. “There was a psychological barrier between us in the past,” added Qumsiyeh’s oldest son, Samir, 38, who was also a Village League leader. “But from now on we want to be members of your community.”

Two villagers rose to question them further about their intentions, extracting a promise that they would never again consider working for the Israelis. And then a Greek Orthodox priest wound up the 15-minute ceremony.

As the meeting broke up, scores of villagers went to the Arab Greek Orthodox clubhouse next door, where some played pool or cards while others sipped strong Turkish coffee, and talked to a handful of visiting journalists.

“I think his coming today is a good thing,” said Ibrahim Jabar, 40, the club chairman who was once beaten by one of Qumsiyeh’s sons and two of his friends.

“Do you forgive him?” Jabar was asked.

“That depends,” he responded with a sly smile.

Another villager was less coy. Of course they don’t really believe Qumsiyeh, he said. But for now, his repentance, even if insincere, serves the purposes of the uprising. “After we have our state, then we will eliminate them,” he added.

Several blocks away, Qumsiyeh and his extended family assembled in the large sitting room atop his three-story home, which is outfitted with security lights on the roof and surrounded by a wall.

“I have to follow my people,” he said when asked why he had repented. “I’m a Palestinian. And I have to do what my people want.”