Hundreds Defy Israeli Policy; Arab Boy Killed

Israeli troops shot and killed an Arab teen-ager suspected of inciting stone-throwers, and at least 37 other Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli-occupied territories on Thursday when hundreds of Arabs took to the streets to defy a new military crackdown by Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The unusually high number of casualties appeared to be the result of the get-tough policy, which allows soldiers to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers even when they are running away after a demonstration.

In the West Bank village of Arabeh, an Arab suspected of collaborating with Israel wounded four people when he opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians who stoned his home during a nationalist march, security sources and Palestinians said.

Military sources said the protesters attacked relatives of the Israeli-appointed mayor of the nearby town of Janin.

In the Gaza Strip, troops shot to death 17-year-old Mohammed Dawawsa, who threw stones in the Shati refugee camp.

They wounded at least 13 protesters in the Jabaliya refugee camp, including a 6-year-old boy, and six others in Gaza City, Deir al Balah and Khan Yunis, hospital officials said.

In the West Bank, troops shot and wounded five stone-throwing Palestinians in the village of Dura, the Balata refugee camp and the town of Hebron, the army said. A 14-year-old boy was wounded in Nablus, hospital staff members said.

The Palestinians of the West Bank went on strike for a second day to protest the mounting Arab casualties that have resulted from Rabin’s harsher policy.

Fourteen Palestinians have died in the past eight days and record numbers have been wounded. Since the uprising began in December, 1987, more than 345 Palestinians have been killed.

Under Rabin’s new “war against stones,” Palestinians can be jailed for longer periods, their houses demolished and their stores closed for hurling stones at Israeli targets.