Good and Bad West Bank News

For Israeli newspapers, it was a good news/bad news sort of story.

First, the good news: under Israeli supervision, 72.3% of the 88,462 eligible voters among the 650,000 Palestinians living on the occupied West Bank went to the polls last week to choose 205 municipal officials in 22 communities. The election in the occupied Jordanian territory was peaceful and honest, and for the first time included women voters. Observed the Jerusalem Post: "A freer election could hardly have been had in any Arab country today."

Now, the bad news: from Israel's point of view at least, the returns indicated a landslide for younger, relatively radical nationalist candidates who are as much attuned to the Palestine Liberation Organization as to local problems. The election was thus a formal declaration of what West Bankers have been saying informally in recent months: they accept the P.L.O., rather than the Jordanian government, as their representative.

The nationalists showed impressive strength, particularly in the area's larger cities. The biggest gain was in Hebron (pop. 55,000), where Sheik Mohammed Ali Jabri, 72, scion of Hebron's most influential family, was replaced after 36 years as mayor. Jabri, who was on friendly terms with top Israeli leaders, was succeeded by Fahd Qawasmi, a 38-year-old agronomist and a member of another large, distinguished clan.

Period of Cooperation. In Nablus (pop. 70,000), a slate of ten nationalists swept the election. The biggest vote getter was Bassam Shakah, 45, a soap-factory owner with outspoken views in favor of the P.L.O. On the strength of his vote, Shakah was named mayor. In Beit Sahur (pop. 9,000), one victorious city council member received the news of his election in jail, where he was being held on suspicion of anti-Israeli terrorist activity.

The outcome of the election was no surprise in Israel, although the size of the anti-Israeli vote was disturbing. Bethlehem was the only major city won by moderates. For two months before election day, the West Bank had been swept by rioting. Three communities, Hebron, El Bireh and Ramallah--where another nationalist mayor won last week--were clamped under curfews; two people were killed in anti-Israeli demonstrations. Ostensibly, the rioters were protesting an Israeli magistrate's court ruling that gave Jews the right to hold prayer services at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem which is also one of Islam's holiest shrines. The real root of the protests, however, was West Bank frustration after nine years of Israeli occupation.

For a time, Israeli officials had considered postponing the elections until tempers cooled. But Defense Minister Shimon Peres, who supervises the occupation, insisted that the vote be held.

Peres was anxious not only to demonstrate Israeli concern for democratic processes but also to help defuse the mood of protest. Afterward, the Defense Minister sought to dampen the nationalistic implications of the results. "Not everything that is said in a campaign is meant literally," he insisted. "We look forward to a period of economic cooperation with the West Bank, to open bridges and open minds." But that period seemed far off. At week's end new riots erupted. Israeli troops shot and killed a six-year-old Arab boy and injured others, threatening a further spate of retaliatory violence.

As for the victorious Arab candidates, they conceded that they would still have to deal with Israel about such local problems as electricity and finances. But they also said that they would pursue a new nationalism aimed against Israel (and Jordan, under whose laws the elections were held). Sipping Turkish coffee with constituents who came to cheer his victory, Hebron's Mayor Qawasmi said his first official act would be a protest to the United Nations against Israel's policy of deporting outspoken Palestinian dissidents.

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