Arab West Bank Mayor Stabbed; Palestinian Militant Suspected

The Israeli-appointed Arab mayor of a town in the occupied West Bank was stabbed in the chest and seriously wounded Tuesday, apparently by a Palestinian militant, as he stepped outside his office.

A police spokesman said Mayor Hassan Tawil was stabbed with a “very long knife” that punctured the left side of his chest and entered his heart. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Ramallah, where his condition after surgery was said to be “critical but stable.”

Tawil, 74, was appointed mayor of Al Birah, about 9 miles from Jerusalem, in September, 1986, by the Israeli military administration. He replaced an Israeli.

Since the start of the Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories last December, the clandestine Unified National Leadership for the Uprising in the Occupied Territories has issued pamphlets calling for the resignation of Israeli-appointed mayors and Arab members of the Israeli-run civil administration for the territories.

Tawil was specifically mentioned in the pamphlets.

Although Palestinian militants were widely suspected of having carried out the attack, Israel army radio said an anonymous caller speaking Hebrew claimed responsibility, to avenge stone-throwing by Palestinians. This attempt to suggest that a Jew had stabbed the mayor was generally discounted.

Israeli Police Minister Chaim Bar-Lev told reporters: “This was an attack on a local man who was ready to accept the very important function for the benefit of the people of Al Birah. Every local person who is ready to take the responsibility is a better alternative than appointing an Israeli, because, after all, the problems here are local.”

There are about a dozen Israel-appointed mayors on the West Bank. It was the first attack on an Arab mayor since February, 1986.

It was feared that the stabbing of Tawil may mark the opening of a new phase in the Palestinian uprising. Palestinian officials have said that the next phase will shift from stone-throwing to civil disobedience and efforts to cripple the civil administration of the territories.