Israel Cracks Down on Palestinians

Israel launched a new crackdown on the nearly 3-year-old Palestinian uprising today, imposing widespread curfews and announcing plans to halve the Arab work force from the occupied lands.

The curfews were to prevent demonstrations on the eve of the second anniversary of the Palestinian state declared by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s parliament in exile on Nov. 15, 1988.

The measures also came a day after two key pro-PLO Palestinian activists were ordered jailed for six months without trial for alleged involvement in inciting a wave of attacks against Israelis in the last month.

Israeli left-wingers protested the detentions of Radwan Abu Ayyash, 40, of Ramallah in the West Bank and Ziad Abu Ziad, 50, of Jerusalem. Abu Ayyash heads the Arab Journalists’ Union, and Abu Ziad edits a Hebrew-language Palestinian weekly.

“The message of the Israeli government to the Palestinian leadership is clear: There is no point in being a moderate,” said Dedi Zucker of the Citizens’ Rights Movement.

Yossi Beilin of the left-of-center Labor Party warned that “the price is liable to be more unnecessary bloodshed.”

The curfews in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip confined about 420,000 people indoors. Schools were also shut in the West Bank, keeping 300,000 Arab pupils away from classrooms.

In Israel, authorities rounded up 1,350 Palestinians working without security permits, Army radio said. The sweep was part of a campaign launched last month in the wake of a spate of stabbing attacks in Israel.

Labor Minister David Magen said the government will institute new policies that he expected to cut by more than half the number of Palestinians working in Israel.

“The government will discuss new labor laws. The significance will be a serious reduction in the number of workers from the territories,” Magen said on Israel radio.

Magen added he expected 60,000 of about 108,000 Palestinians employed in Israel to lose their jobs. The slack would be taken up by Soviet immigrants and discharged soldiers, he said.