World: West Bank Crackdown

The Israelis have long made assertions about the benevolence of their rule over the occupied territories. But those claims have been often disputed by the Arabs, particularly the nearly 700,000 Palestinians on the Jordan River's West Bank. During the Israeli plunge into Lebanon, complaints from West Bank Arabs about rough treatment at Israeli hands reached a crescendo, as units of the 2,200-member Israeli garrison there carried out arrests and other measures apparently intended to discourage any unrest. There were a few demonstrations, to be sure, but the Israeli crackdown was indiscriminate. Said a Western diplomat in Jerusalem: "There is a widespread...