West Bank Schools Reopen; No Incidents

Thousands of Palestinian schoolchildren attended classes for the first time in four months Monday at West Bank schools that had been shut down by the army in response to the uprising in the occupied territories.

More than 90% of the 203,000 enrolled pupils attended classes at 611 West Bank primary schools, said Lt. Olivieh Rafowicz, spokesman for the Civil Administration, which runs the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“There were no problems whatsoever,” Rafowicz said.

Army patrols stayed away from the schools, apparently to avoid confrontations. The military shut down the schools Feb. 1 after weeks of violent protests and short-term closures.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that the students want to study, that the teachers want to teach and that the parents want to send their children to school,” Brig. Gen. Shaike Erez, head of the West Bank Civil Administration, told Israel Radio.

‘Smooth Functioning’

“We . . . will give full backing to the smooth functioning of the schools,” he said.

Military officials said schools were opened because violence had declined, but three Palestinians were killed Sunday in one of the worst days in recent weeks, and a new underground leaflet has called a general strike for Wednesday.

The army has “examined” the education system, and “teachers who were connected with the rioting are not teachers today,” Gen. Erez said on Israel Army Radio.

Monday’s openings were the second part in a program of gradual reopening of Palestinian schools. Schools in Arab East Jerusalem opened Sunday with few disturbances. Palestinians had demanded that the schools reopen, arguing that students were in danger of not being able to complete the school year. Gaza schools have remained open throughout the unrest.

Step in Restoring Calm

Israeli officials see the resumption of classes as another step toward restoring calm in the West Bank, which has been torn by five months of riots, commercial strikes and economic sanctions imposed by the army to crush the Palestinian uprising.

Israeli officials have warned that the schools will be closed again if there are renewed protests. But the real test of whether students have given up protest in favor of study will come in the next two weeks, when junior high and high schools are scheduled to reopen.

“I hope that there will be studying and not rioting,” Erez said. “If (classes) don’t go as expected, then the system will be shut down again.”

Officials have not announced any plans to reopen West Bank universities, traditionally centers of anti-Israel activity.

Awad’s Appeal Heard

Also Monday, the Israeli High Court of Justice heard an appeal by Palestinian-American civil rights activist Mubarak Awad, who is challenging a deportation order signed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.

The three-judge panel ended the hearing without issuing a ruling, and Awad was returned to jail. Government lawyers told the court that Awad, a Jerusalem native who obtained U.S. citizenship, should be expelled because his tourist visa has expired.

Awad’s lawyers said the U.S.-educated psychologist should be allowed to remain because, despite his American citizenship, he is still a resident of Arab East Jerusalem, which Israel seized from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and later put under Israeli law.

U.S. officials have pressed Israel not to deport Awad, who advocates non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli officials say Awad has incited violence during the Palestinian uprising, a charge Awad denies.

Awad, 44, was arrested and jailed May 5. He appealed the deportation order two days later. He has threatened to convert to Judaism and return to Israel--under a law that makes all Jews citizens of Israel--if the deportation order is allowed to stand.