Israel Imposes Tight Curfew on Palestinians as ‘Day of Rage’ Is Marked

Israeli troops Saturday clamped a tight curfew on 400,000 Arabs during a “Day of Rage” ordered by Palestinian leaders, and an Israeli policeman shot and killed a Palestinian man who attacked him with an ax.

The curfew, confining Palestinians in the occupied territories to their homes, was maintained for a sixth straight day following violent protests over the assassination of Khalil Wazir, military leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The army said it will lift a four-day-old ban on travel to Israel today by residents of the occupied lands.

The lifting of the closure will permit workers to go to their jobs in Israel. Under the current regulations, Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip may not enter Israel, but Israelis may enter the occupied areas.

In Saturday’s continuing violence, a paramilitary border policeman shot and killed a Palestinian man who attacked him with an ax during a protest in the West Bank village of Qabatiya, the army said without identifying the dead man.

Arab reports said the demonstration in the village, 43 miles north of Jerusalem, was to protest Wazir’s slaying. The army said dozens of Palestinians participated.

The death Saturday brought to 160 the number of Arabs killed since the uprising began 19 weeks ago. An Israeli teen-ager and an army soldier also have died.

Underground leaders of the Palestinian uprising had called for the “Day of Rage” on Saturday to mark a week since Wazir’s killing.

In Gaza City, burning tires filled the air with smoke. Most shops were closed in response to a call for a general strike. But vendors sold fruits, vegetables and other goods from carts on the streets.

Israeli leaders had predicted that the uprising against Israel’s 21-year occupation would falter both because of strong army action and economic strains on the Palestinians caused by repeated general strikes.

However, an Israeli scholar said Saturday that Wazir’s death, which has been blamed on Israel, could prompt more bloodshed.

“We may see more terrorist operations not only against Israeli targets in Israel itself,” Asher Sasser of Tel Aviv University told Israel Radio. “There may be more terrorist operations against Israeli objectives in Europe, which Fatah at least has abstained from for quite a few years.”

Sasser, an expert on terrorism at the university’s Dayan Center, said that the PLO’s mainstream Fatah group may see the killing of Wazir “as a change of the rules in the war with Israel, that they would now be able to justify operations against Israeli targets in Europe.”