2 Arab Youths Reported Slain by Israeli Troops

Israeli soldiers Sunday shot and killed two Palestinian teen-agers and wounded 12 other Palestinians in clashes, hospital officials said.

Palestinians were observing a general strike Sunday to mark the 19th anniversary of an arson fire that ravaged Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque.

The strike was called by the Islamic Resistance Movement to commemorate an attempt to burn down the mosque by an Australian later found to be mentally deranged.

In the village of Tubas in the occupied West Bank, soldiers shot and killed 17-year-old Raja Hamdan Sawafta during a clash, according to officials at Al Ittihad Hospital in Nablus.

Curfew Follows Death

In Gaza City, a military spokesman said the army placed a curfew on the Bureij refugee camp’s 17,000 residents after 18-year-old Nael Hamad was shot to death during a clash with soldiers.

More than 230 Palestinians have been killed since the uprising in the occupied lands began Dec. 9.

In Haifa, police announced the arrest of four men in Saturday’s guerrilla hand grenade attack that wounded 25 Israelis.

Police Chief Yaacov Haviv said eight others are being detained for questioning. Fifteen Arabs were questioned and freed overnight, he said.

The extremist Palestine Revolutionary Council issued a statement in Beirut claiming responsibility for “inflicting great losses among members of the enemy.”

Boy Loses Both Feet

Among the injured was an 8-year-old boy who lost both feet.

Haifa Mayor Aryeh Gurel said the attack appeared aimed at harming Jewish-Arab ties in a city that has become a symbol of coexistence.

“They will not succeed in their goal of upsetting Jewish-Arab relations,” Gurel said in a statement.

Haifa’s population of 243,000 includes 20,000 Arabs who hold Israeli citizenship. Many of them live in mixed neighborhoods with Jews.

Another clash was reported in Nablus, the West Bank’s largest city, with a population of 120,000. Soldiers battled groups of stone-throwing Arab young people in the narrow, winding streets of the old city.

Hospital officials said 12 Palestinians were admitted Sunday. At least nine were shot during clashes with troops, but three from the Askar refugee camp on the city’s outskirts were shot by unidentified men in civilian clothes, an Arab reporter said.

The army said it knew of only three men being wounded.