Army Closes West Bank Sector in Search for Abducted Israeli

Israeli soldiers conducted house-to-house searches and maintained curfews in the northwestern West Bank on Thursday to find an Israeli abducted by two masked men wielding axes and knives.

The military closed off the West Bank town of Tulkarm and surrounding villages to aid the search for Shaul Mishani, 45, a gold dealer from Bat Yam. Mishani disappeared late Wednesday while collecting debts owed to him by Tulkarm gold dealers, Army Radio reported.

It is not clear whether the abduction was politically motivated, but it was the first time an Israeli civilian had disappeared in such circumstances in the 20-month-old Palestinian uprising. Earlier this year, the disappearance of two soldiers within Israel prompted massive searches that only located the body of one soldier three months after he disappeared.

“We are going from house to house, knocking on every door, going from roof to roof, searching basements,” said one soldier involved in the search.

Two masked men armed with knives and axes stopped the taxi Mishani was in late Wednesday, ordered the driver to drive to the outskirts of Tulkarm and forced Mishani out of the car, Army Radio reported. They told the driver, an Israeli Arab, to wait in an alley until they returned, but after two hours, the man left and reported the incident to police.

In Jerusalem, Israel’s High Court upheld the deportation orders against four Palestinians described by officials as prominent leaders of the Palestinian uprising. The exact date when the four--Mahmoud Matur, Audeh Maali, Majed Labadi and Dr. Tayasir Aruri--will be deported is not known.

Deportations Condemned

The United States and other countries have condemned deportations, but Israel has expelled more than 50 Palestinians since the uprising began.

In the village of Eizariya, just east of Jerusalem, authorities investigated the death of a 15-year-old Palestinian after paramilitary border police stopped him for questioning late Wednesday.

Palestinian sources said the youth was beaten, but an army spokesman said an initial investigation showed that the Arab died of natural causes.

In the Gaza Strip, a 20-year-old Palestinian was seriously wounded in the head when he was hit by a 2.2-pound weight thrown at soldiers during clashes in the Rafah city vegetable market.

At least three other Arabs were shot and wounded in clashes with soldiers in the occupied territories.