VARIOUS: PALESTINIANS HOLD GENERAL STRIKE IN PROTEST AGAINST ISRAEL'S DECISION TO EXTEND WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS.

Record ID: 342129

  • Title: VARIOUS: PALESTINIANS HOLD GENERAL STRIKE IN PROTEST AGAINST ISRAEL'S DECISION TO EXTEND WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS.
  • Date: 29th August 1996
  • Summary: JERUSALEM AND GAZA STRIP (AUGUST 29 1996) (RTV -- ACCESS ALL) JERUSALEM (AUGUST 29, 1996) 1. GV: ARAM CHECKPOINT ON THE BORDER BETWEEN JERUSALEM AND THE WEST BANK 0.05 2. MV: SOLDIERS CHECKING DRIVER'S PAPERS (4 SHOTS) 0.24 3. GV: CLOSED SHOPS (3 SHOTS) 0.39 4. MCU: PALESTINIAN MAN SAYING "IT IS A RETURN TO WAR FOR US, MORE INTIFADA, MORE VIOLENCE - IT IS A RETURN TO OUR FORMER WAY OF LIFE." (ENGLISH) 0.57 5. GV: STREET SCENES AND CLOSED SHOPS (4 SHOTS) 1.16 GAZA STRIP (AUGUST 29, 1996) 6. GV/MV/CU: CLOSED SHOPS/ LOCKS ON SHOPS/ TRUCKS AND OTHER VEHICLES AT A CLOSED 7-UP SOFT DRINK FACTORY (7 SHOTS) 2.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 13th September 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: EAST JERUSALEM/ GAZA STRIP
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA2CF108AYJZM2XAHHVEA4OVX2Y
  • Story Text: INTRO: Palestinians have observed the first general strike in the West Bank and Gaza in two years, heeding Yasser Arafat's call for the protest against Israeli policy on settlements and Jerusalem.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- Shops in the West Bank town of Ramallah were closed at the 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) official start of the four-hour stoppage on Thursday (August 29). Businesses also were shut in other areas of the West Bank and in Gaza and Arab East Jerusalem, witnesses said.

    At a session of the Palestinian legislature on Wednesday (August 28), Palestinian President Arafat lashed out at Israel, saying its policies amounted to a declaration of war and called a half-day general strike "for Jerusalem" in protest.

    He slammed Israel's decision to expand the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Sefer in the West Bank and its demolition of a community centre in Arab East Jerusalem.

    The Palestinian Legislative Council demanded on Wednesday a halt to contacts with Israel until the Jewish state honoured its peace pledges.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responding to Arafat's strongest attack on his right-wing government since its election in May, said Israel would view as "very grave" any attempt to step up tensions or violence.

    In an apparent effort to quell tensions, Israel's Foreign Minister David Levy telephoned Arafat and told him Tuesday's (August 27) demolition in Jerusalem was not politically motivated, and that all sides would lose if the situation deteriorated.

    During the general strike, shops, businesses and schools were scheduled to be closed. It was the first strike in both areas since Israel handed over parts of the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinian self-rule in 1994.

    Arafat also called on Palestinians to flock to East Jerusalem for Friday prayers but most will be prevented by an Israeli closure imposed on the West Bank and Gaza six months ago after a spate of Moslem suicide bombings.

    Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and claims both halves of the city as its capital. The PLO wants East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.


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