3 Palestinians, Israeli Soldier Die in Lebanon Border Clash

Three Palestinian guerrillas were killed in a shoot-out Sunday when Israeli troops caught them cutting through a fence on the border in southern Lebanon, army officials said. An Israeli soldier also died in the exchange of gunfire.

The border clash marked the fourth attempt at infiltration into Israel since May 28.

The report said the battle erupted before dawn when three guerrillas opened fire on Israeli troops patrolling a border security road north of the Misgav Am settlement.

Israeli Sgt. Maj. Hassin Muktaren, who was leading the troops on foot, died of a gunshot wound, army officials added, and two other soldiers were wounded.

Israel set up a the security zone in southern Lebanon in 1985.

Responsibility Claimed

The Syrian-backed Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in a communique released in Beirut, claimed responsibility for the raid, in reprisal for retaliatory Israeli air raids on guerrilla bases in Lebanon on Wednesday.

The front also said the Arab commandos had penetrated Misgav Am and attacked a barracks. The communique made no mention of Arab casualties.

Also Sunday, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir warned Jewish settlers to stop attacking Arab communities in the Israeli-occupied territories.

Settlers have conducted raids to punish Palestinians for stoning attacks on Israeli-owned cars. A 16-year-old Palestinian girl died in a revenge raid last week.

“No one is entitled to take the law into his own hands,” Shamir said in a statement released after the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Settler Restricted

One Jewish settler accused of attacks on Palestinians has been banned from entering Arab areas, the Maariv daily reported Sunday. The settler, identified as David Axelrod, allegedly assaulted an Israeli soldier patrolling the West Bank town of Hebron last month.

A Defense Ministry official confirmed that the activities of a Jewish settler have been restricted, but would not name him.

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, an Arab died of gunshot wounds suffered in a clash with troops two days earlier, hospital officials said.

In the occupied Gaza Strip on Sunday, troops maintained a curfew while Arabs from both the West Bank and Gaza began a 48-hour general strike to mark the anniversaries of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982.