1 Million Arabs Under Curfew as Uprising Anniversary Nears

Israel confined more than a million Arabs to their homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday as they prepared to celebrate the start of the fourth year of their uprising against occupation.

Palestinian militants, who have stepped up attacks against Arabs they suspect of aiding Israeli authorities, shot and wounded the Israeli-appointed deputy mayor of the West Bank town of Al Bireh, military sources and residents said.

Palestinians said two gunmen entered Zaki Nahas’ shop and shot him in the stomach and shoulder before fleeing. The deputy mayor was taken to an Israeli hospital under armed guard.

The army clamped curfews on towns and refugee camps throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip to stem unrest and prevent demonstrations ahead of the third anniversary of the uprising Dec. 9.

Thousands of soldiers poured into the occupied territories, blocking roads and checking all vehicles. They turned back visitors and journalists who tried to enter.

“We are making preparations based on what we know from years past and existing warnings ahead of the 9th of December--three years of the intifada ,” or uprising, the military commander of the Ramallah area of the West Bank told Army Radio on Thursday.

In the Gaza Srip, the army imposed a curfew on Gaza city and Khan Yunis town along with five of the eight refugee camps.

It also ordered half a million Palestinians in the West Bank to stay home. Some towns were made closed military areas.

In Ramallah, Palestinians anticipating a curfew crowded markets and stores. Soldiers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse dozens of youths who tried to organize a march in the town center, witnesses said.

In some remote villages, masked activists in the uprising’s strike forces held paramilitary parades.

Security sources said the army would gradually extend the curfews to envelop the entire occupied territories by Sunday.

PLO-backed leaders of the three-year-old uprising against Israeli rule called on the 1.75 million Palestinians in the occupied territories to close their businesses and stay away from work today and Sunday to mark the uprising.