Israel Troops Invade Town to Collect Taxes, Arabs Flee

BEIT SAHOUR, Israeli-occupied West Bank — Arabs fled for the hills today when Israeli troops raided this town, breaking down doors and rounding up merchants to force striking Palestinians to pay their taxes, residents said.

Many Palestinians ran into nearby hills when hundreds of soldiers poured into Beit Sahour at dawn and began house-to-house searches, confiscating identity cards and taking dozens of merchants to a local school, one resident said.

The raid was part of new tough tactics by the Civil Administration, which runs the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, to combat a tax strike and a boycott of Israeli authorities urged by underground leaders of an Arab revolt.

An army spokesman said that tax agents moved into the empty school to perform their duties and that residents arrived to pay their taxes. He said the army was checking reports that troops raided the town.

About 250 residents shouting “We don’t want Israeli ID cards!” staged a sit-in protest at Beit Sahour’s town hall and handed their Israeli documents to Deputy Mayor Khalil Kheir.

“This Israeli government is not our government and we don’t need their ID cards. We will not pay their taxes,” said a hardware merchant who declined to be identified.

Kheir, who said troops were holding about 50 villagers in the town’s secondary school, told reporters: “We have been on strike for six months and farming is bad, so we have no money to pay their taxes. We don’t work.”

In a statement, the municipality appealed to international agencies and “peace-loving nations to intervene to stop this wild campaign against our people.” It also urged the withdrawal of troops and Israeli tax agents from the town.

Security sources said troops had orders to confiscate cars, TVs, video recorders and other valuables from merchants who refused or were unable to pay their taxes, but residents said there were no reports of confiscated goods.