Six Arabs Wounded as Strike Starts in West Bank and Gaza
Israeli soldiers shot and wounded at least six Arabs on Saturday on the first day of a two-day general strike beginning the 17th month of the uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said.
A 12-year-old boy shot in the West Bank town of Janin was in serious condition at an Israeli hospital, an army spokesman said.
Shops were closed in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem, and most workers stayed home in observance of the strike.
In Janin in the West Bank, Palestinian teen-agers threw stones when troops entered the town. The soldiers forced residents to paint over nationalistic graffiti and take down outlawed Palestinian flags.
During the confrontations between the troops and stone-throwers, the 12-year-old, Maher Shalbak, was shot twice in the neck, the sources said.
The boy was in Haifa’s Rambam Hospital in serious condition, the army spokesman said.
In the Gaza Strip, at least five Palestinians were wounded by army gunfire, Palestinian sources said.
Curfews were clamped on seven Gaza refugee camps, two villages and parts of Gaza City, residents said.
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