Israeli Troops Confiscate ID Cards of Arabs in Gaza

Israeli troops roused Palestinians at dawn Tuesday and confiscated their identity papers in a new campaign to force 400,000 Arabs in the Gaza Strip to renew their government identification cards.

Arab underground leaders warned residents via leaflets and mosque loudspeakers that the ID campaign in the Gaza Strip was a plot to break a five-month Palestinian uprising against Israel’s 21-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Mordechai, commander of Israeli troops in Gaza, said the effort was designed to find false identification cards and catch security and tax offenders. Refusal to pay taxes and other fees has been a chief tactic of the struggle against Israel.

Some Palestinians Banned

Some of the new cards ban Palestinians from entering Israel.

Muslim leaders in Gaza said Israeli troops arrived at their homes at dawn to awaken Palestinians and demand their papers.

“They banged on windows and doors and ordered us to hand over our identity cards. They said we had to change them,” said Sheik Khalo, a leader in Gaza City.

The order for new cards affects Palestinians between the ages of 16 and 60, who have to pay $10 for the documents. The army said it would take about three months to issue new IDs to everyone.

Arabs in the occupied lands must carry identity cards at all times and show them at frequent security checks.

Hundreds of Palestinians crowded into large, dust-covered tents at two schools converted into makeshift registration centers. Many said the army forced them to come.

Many of the hundreds of Arabs standing in the sweltering heat for about four hours Tuesday waiting for their pictures to be taken were angry because there was only one photographer.

“It is Ramadan (a Muslim holy month). We are fasting,” said Ahmed Abu Hassan, 26. “We are not animals to spend all day here waiting. Instead of changing our identity cards the Israelis should change their minds about occupying our land.”

The Israeli Itim news agency said some new identity cards carry a message saying the bearer is barred from entering Israel. A military source confirmed there are “special instructions” on some cards but refused to elaborate.

Underground leaflets told Arab residents to resist the campaign to renew their Israeli identity cards.

“Do not change your ID cards,” the leaflets read. “This will harm the uprising’s achievements and strength.”

The Israeli army also said Tuesday that it has cracked a guerrilla ring in the Gaza Strip that was planning to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv’s central bus station.

The group, identified as belonging to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was also linked to four other attacks, including laying a mine that injured four Israeli troops in Gaza last March and planting a bomb at an Israeli school south of Tel Aviv in February, an army spokesman said. No one was hurt by the bomb.

A military representative speaking on condition of anonymity said the ring was broken last week.