Masked Palestinians With Axes Slay a Suspected Collaborator

Masked Palestinians wielding axes killed an Arab farmer suspected of cooperating with Israel, witnesses said Thursday. Other masked men attacked Palestinian laborers they accused of defying a strike order and injured three.

The attacks reflected growing divisions among Palestinians over the future of their 8 1/2-month uprising.

Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft attacked a Palestinian guerrilla base near the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon, the army command said.

Israeli military sources and Lebanese police said rocket-firing helicopter gunships were used in the air raid, Israel’s 13th in Lebanon this year.

Lebanese police said 10 people, including one guerrilla, were wounded in the six-minute attack on targets in the Ein el Hilwa refugee camp on the outskirts of Sidon.

In the West Bank village of Yatta south of Jerusalem, masked men broke into the home of village leader Said Hazazeh late Wednesday, dragged him outside and hacked him to death with axes, Arab witnesses and state-run Israel Radio reported.

Hazazeh, 34, was the third suspected collaborator to be killed since the uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip began Dec. 9.

Possible Family Feud

The Israeli army said that Hazazeh may have been killed as part of a longstanding family feud.

But Israel Radio and witnesses said he had carried a weapon--a privilege Israel grants only to Palestinians who provide information to authorities.

When asked who was responsible for the slaying, the village’s Israeli-appointed mayor, Ismail abu Hamid, said, “The whole village.” The army closed Yatta to outsiders.

It was the second attack on Hazazeh, who was stabbed in Hebron a month ago and released from a hospital three days before his death.

6 Areas Stay Under Curfew

The Israeli army maintained curfews Thursday on six areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, confining an estimated 255,000 Palestinians to their homes.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said in a message to U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz that Israel will “continue its policy of selective deportations,” a Shamir aide said.

It came in response to criticism from the State Department, which said continued Israeli deportations could threaten relations between Jerusalem and Washington.

“The U.S. is not responsible for order here--we are,” Shamir said in remarks broadcast by Israel Radio.