U.S. Rights Stand Stirs Israelis as Uprising Toll Climbs

On a day that a U.S. human rights report critical of Israel stirred the country, four Palestinians died of Israeli bullets while an Israeli civilian burned to death in his vehicle. Preliminary reports indicated he was the victim of an Arab firebombing, but investigators later said they could not be sure.

The Wednesday incidents are likely to be grist for the passionate arguments here over Israel’s handling of the Arab uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as Washington’s reaction to it.

The killings of the Arabs could be used to bolster charges that Israel uses excessive force. The State Department’s annual human rights report, issued Tuesday, said Israel’s use of live fire had resulted in “many avoidable deaths and injuries.”

However, the attack on the Israeli civilian, if confirmed, would strengthen Israel’s rebuttal. The government argues that the uprising is in essence a terrorist campaign against the country, that human rights criticism is misplaced and that the United States should stop talking to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which claims leadership of the uprising.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir responded to reports of the firebombing by saying: “It’s a very grave event. It shows there is no relation between the report in Washington and the reality of this country.”

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers who live on the West Bank demanded that the Israeli army crack down harder on Palestinians throwing stones or gasoline bombs. Some tried to enter Arab villages, apparently seeking revenge, but were headed off by soldiers.

The first of Wednesday’s Palestinian fatalities occurred when Arab prisoners rioted at a jail in northern Israel after visitors outside began to wave Palestinian flags.

After shooting tear gas and bullets made of plastic and metal at the rioters, troops opened fire with full metal rounds, killing one prisoner.

Shortly afterward, two youths were shot to death in stone-throwing clashes with the army in separate villages in the West Bank. A third man died in an Israeli hospital after being hit in the head by a bullet the day before.

On Tuesday, the State Department had put the toll of Palestinians killed in the intifada , as the uprising is known in Arabic, at 366.

The apparent firebombing occurred near the West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe, not far from Israel’s official border. The army initially said that the driver, Albert Jerussi, 38, was returning to his home in the settlement when a Molotov cocktail hit his vehicle and burst into flames. Later, they said they could not find debris from the bomb and could not confirm that it was an ambush.

Jerussi, a father of three, died before arriving at a hospital in Kfar Sava. He would be the 15th Israeli killed since the intifada began in December, 1987.

Earlier in the day, the State Department human rights report had been front-page news in all Israeli newspapers. Opposition members of Parliament called for the government to resign over the criticism.

The report found fault not only with the use of bullets by Israeli troops but also with other means Israel uses to fight the uprising: detentions without trial, demolition of homes and the expulsion of Arabs.

An array of Israeli officials publicly described the criticism as “harsh,” “tough,” “exaggerated” and “lamentable,” while privately, they wondered how a widening gap in viewpoints with Washington might affect relations.

Israel considers the intifada to be part of a terrorist campaign to destroy the country. As such, it is no more than an extension of past wars made on Israel by the hostile Arab world.

In contrast, the State Department report claimed that the uprising stems from activities of “primarily young men and women motivated by Palestinian nationalism and a desire to bring the occupation to an end.”

Israeli officials say they have been assured the human rights report will not impair overall ties with the United States, a relationship that includes close military cooperation and about $3 billion a year in aid from Washington.

However, it is apparent not all is unchanged; unlike last year, the State Department did not give Israel an advance text of the report.

In December, then-Secretary of State George P. Shultz decided to open talks with the PLO. Shultz accepted the PLO’s verbal renunciation of terrorism as one of the bases for talks.

Israel claimed that the PLO had not changed and has tried to reverse Washington’s decision. Over the weekend, Israel said its troops aborted an attempt by an armed PLO unit to infiltrate Israel and kill civilians. The PLO responded that its guerrillas were after military targets.