Troop Rampage Reported in Arab Village After Bus Stoning

Dozens of Israeli soldiers smashed doors and windows and overturned cars in a Palestinian refugee camp after their bus was pelted by stones, Arab witnesses and state-run television said Monday.

An army spokesman said the incident, which occurred Sunday night at the Kalandia camp north of Jerusalem, is being investigated.

“Apparently reserve soldiers were involved,” said the army official, who cannot be identified under military rules. “If the reports are true, the soldiers will be brought to court.”

Reserve units have been activated to support the regular army in trying to contain the 11-month-old Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Six Palestinian teen-agers suffered gunshot wounds Monday in clashes with Israeli troops in Gaza, Arab hospital officials said.

In Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp, two Palestinian children, a teen-ager and a 55-year-old woman were treated for injuries from rubber bullets fired to break up demonstrations, the doctors said.

The army spokesman’s office confirmed two woundings, both in the Shati camp in Gaza City, and said it was checking the other reports.

The incident at the Kalandia camp took place late Sunday when the bus carrying the soldiers was reportedly hit by stones. The soldiers made a circuit through the camp, smashing house and car windows, before returning to their bus and leaving, witnesses said.

One camp resident, shown on television next to an overturned car, said the soldiers came without warning.

“I looked out of the window and saw more than 25 or 30 army people,” he said. “First they overturned this car. Then they damaged my car, which is parked here every day.”

Witnesses said at least four cars were damaged.

The witnesses said the soldiers also broke down the gates to yards and the doors to homes and smashed windows with their rifle butts.

Rulf Van Uye, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said “well over 20 houses” were reported by camp residents to be damaged.

Israel Television said the soldiers were not assigned to the Kalandia camp and were returning home after finishing duty elsewhere. It did not elaborate.