Israeli soldiers enforced curfews in the occupied lands Wednesday, confining about 1.5 million people to their homes, and Palestinians observed a general strike to protest the killing of seven Arabs by an Israeli civilian.
Hundreds of police reinforcements, meanwhile, poured into Jerusalem to guard against unrest as Israel marked the 23rd anniversary of the capture of the Old City and surrounding Arab east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.Right-wing extremist groups staged marches to the walled Old City. Groups of armed youths wearing Jewish skullcaps marched around the eastern sector beginning early Wednesday. No violence was reported.
On Tuesday, Palestinians in the occupied territories and in neighboring Jordan took to the streets in escalating protests over Sunday's massacre of the seven Arab laborers.
Four people, two in Israel and two in Jordan, were reported killed and at least 47 hurt. It was the third straight day of violence following Sunday's incident.
In Moslem areas of Lebanon Wednesday, a general strike to protest the slayings brought life to a standstill.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, meanwhile, defended his government against criticism by Arabs and the U.S. State Department - both over Sunday's slayings and the heavy use of gunfire by Israeli troops during protests.
"Anyone wishing to see in this mad murder an expression of Israeli government policy and intentions is maliciously and viciously distorting the picture," Shamir told legislators from his right-wing Likud bloc.
Palestinians charge that Israel's harsh tactics in handling the 29-month-old Palestinian uprising and the government's failure to begin peace talks have increased anti-Arab sentiment.
Meanwhile, the father of the Israeli held in Sunday's mass slaying asked for forgiveness for the blood that has been spilled following his son's "crazy act."
"My family and I take part in the anguish of the families of the killed and I hope for a quick recovery of the wounded," said Haim Popper. "We are shattered by the enormity of the calamity and we ask forgiveness from the whole nation for all the incidents that happened," Popper told Army Radio.
On Monday, Ami Popper, a dishonorably discharged soldier, was ordered held for 15 days to undergo psychiatric examination. Popper reportedly told authorities he fired on the workers because he was distraught over a failed personal relationship.
President Bush extended personal condolences to the families of the seven slain Palestinians and those killed later by security forces. He asked the Israeli army "to act with maximum restraint."