Israeli Troops Kill Two Arab Youths, Wound 16 in Clashes

Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian teen-agers and wounded 16 Arabs on Monday in clashes with stone throwers in the occupied West Bank, hospital officials said.

The death toll was the highest in the occupied territories for a single day since June 16, when Israeli troops shot to death two Palestinians and wounded 18 in the West Bank village of Beit Furik.

In Arab East Jerusalem, Palestinian assailants stoned four Israeli buses and firebombed a fifth. Police said a Palestinian girl was injured by a stone, and two Palestinians were arrested on suspicion of stone throwing.

As the violence intensified, Israeli occupation authorities closed six West Bank schools for the rest of the school year and threatened to shut more.

Monday’s worst clashes occurred in Nablus, the largest town in the occupied West Bank, where troops opened fire on a crowd of protesters.

Seventeen-year-old Faris Anabtawi was shot in the chest, and the youth died on his way to the hospital, Arab officials said, adding that two other Palestinians were wounded in the clash.

Sparks More Violence

After news of the death spread in Nablus, Palestinian youths took to the streets, erecting barricades of burning tires and throwing stones at soldiers, an Arab reporter said.

Al Ittihad Hospital officials said they treated 10 Palestinians for gunshot wounds. At St. John’s Hospital in Nablus, six Arabs, including a 12-year-old boy, were treated for gunshot wounds, officials there said.

In the West Bank village of Anabta, troops fired on students who hurled rocks and empty bottles at them after classes were let out, the army said. A 16-year-old student identified as Hassan Ahmed Addas was shot three times in the chest and killed, according to hospital officials.