The World - News from Sept. 20, 1989

Palestinian activists burned down two houses of an Arab family, suspected collaborators with Israel who had kidnaped a Palestinian mayor, witnesses said. Mayor Hanna Atrash, 66, of the fiercely nationalist town of Beit Sahour in the occupied West Bank, said he was held for more than an hour by two members of the Zahalan family, then rescued when hundreds of villagers stormed the house where he was held. Later, about 150 masked activists of the 21-month-old Palestinian uprising set fire to the houses of Mahmoud Zahalan and his brother, Musa. Atrash, one of the few elected Palestinian mayors in the West Bank, where Israeli authorities appoint most municipal leaders, accused the Zahalans of collaborating with Israel.