Palestinians Allowed to Go to Israel Jobs

Israel allowed Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to leave their homes on Sunday and travel to jobs in Israel for the first time in a week, but the move failed to end an Arab business strike.

A military spokesman said restrictions imposed last week to halt violent protests after the assassination in Tunisia of Khalil Wazir, military commander of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Fatah faction, were lifted because there had been “relative calm” in the occupied areas.

The military spokesman said that most of the 100,000 laborers from the occupied areas went to work in Israel on Sunday.

Curfews Also Lifted

Curfews confining 400,000 Palestinians to their homes for a week were lifted along with the travel restrictions affecting 1.5 million Palestinians.

In addition to lifting the four-day ban Sunday, Israel also permitted deliveries of gasoline to the occupied areas for the first time in more than a month.

In Arab East Jerusalem, about 30 police, some in riot helmets and carrying clubs and automatic rifles, issued orders to shopkeepers opposite Damascus Gate to stop following instructions of uprising leaders to open their shops only in the late afternoon.

Police had ordered about 25 merchants on the street to open all day Sunday, but merchants defied the order and threw open their doors only at the hours set by the underground leaders.

‘Afraid for My Life’

“I am afraid for my life,” 43-year-old Saleh Sagari said, explaining why he opened his tiny grocery shop at hours dictated by the uprising’s leaders. “If I open (during army-ordered hours), they will burn me down.”

An Israeli official said Palestinian businessmen had asked to be forced to open so they could recover financial losses incurred during the strike while still appearing to remain loyal to the uprising.

Police entered the stores in the afternoon and filed charges against owners who had violated the orders, witnesses said. The offense carries a minimum penalty of a three-month closure.

The army appeared to confirm a report from Palestinian sources that a West Bank resident was killed in clashes with troops Saturday night.

Palestinian sources said Ahmed Hassan Salem Amir, 27, from the village of Beit Rosh, was shot by soldiers. The army said troops there shot a Palestinian who threw a gasoline bomb at an army patrol and said they were checking if a death at Hebron hospital was the same man.