Territories Shut by Arab Strike; Curfew Imposed

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian general strike shut down the occupied territories today and the Israeli army imposed acurfew that confined 200,000 Arabs to their homes.

Soldiers shot a Palestinian youth during a clash with young Arabs hurling rocks and bottles in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem in the West Bank, the army said. Officials at Rafidiyeh Hospital in Nablus said he was critically wounded in the chest.

Indefinite curfews were imposed on the Dheishe refugee camp in the West Bank and on nine camps and villages in the Gaza Strip.

Underground leaders called the one-day strike in a leaflet signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization to mark the end of mourning for Khalil Wazir, the PLO military commander, 40 days after he was assassinated at his home in Tunis.

Wazir, whose code name was Abu Jihad, spent his boyhood in Gaza City. His cousin Ahmed Wazir, who lives there, said soldiers barred mourners from attending a reception in the slain leader’s honor.

Visitors Turned Back

“The army is outside our house,” Ahmed Wazir said by telephone from his home, where the reception was to have been held. “They turned back anyone who came here.”

Stores were closed throughout the territories and in Arab East Jerusalem, which Israel took from Jordan in 1967 and has formally annexed. Public transport was halted and most Palestinians who have jobs in Israel stayed home.

Vendors selling newspapers and doughnut-shaped bread covered with sesame seeds, an Arab staple, provided the only signs of commercial activity.

Israel radio said the army threatened Arab property owners with up to five years in jail if they fail to wash anti-Israeli graffiti off their buildings and remove Palestinian flags, which are outlawed by Israel.