Arabs Fire at Israeli Patrol From Empty U.N. Building

JERUSALEM —  Palestinian gunmen fired from a vacant United Nations building at an Israeli army patrol Monday in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

No one was hurt in the armed attack, the third on Gaza soldiers in two weeks.

The shooting marked a departure from the Palestinians’ policy of shunning firearms in resisting Israeli rule.

The U.N. spokeswoman said that masked Palestinians broke into the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) youth center in Rafah, which has been closed since the start of the intifada , or Palestinian uprising, 35 months ago.

“Of course we are very unhappy because it does not serve our purpose here. It is an incursion into our installations. They are not to be used for political activities or any intifada- related activities,” she said.

Elsewhere in Rafah, troops dispersed stone-throwing youths with live ammunition and rubber bullets, wounding 11, the U.N. spokeswoman said.

The Palestine Liberation Organization, saying violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip has reached “an intolerable limit,” said Monday that it has asked friendly countries to arrange an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to address the situation.

U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar has called for a meeting of 164 nations to discuss protection of Palestinians in occupied areas. Israel has rejected this proposal.

Also Monday, military curfews confined 150,000 Palestinians to their homes in the Gaza Strip after two days of rioting sparked by the death of a jailed Arab activist.

Police said he hanged himself in his Gaza City jail cell. But Palestinians believe he may have been tortured by Israel’s secret police.

The activist’s family is demanding an investigation. On Monday, a British pathologist represented the family at an autopsy by an Israeli team. Security sources said a report would be available in two days.

At least 185 Palestinians were reported wounded by army gunfire over the weekend. An additional 350 Gaza residents were treated for lesser injuries, according to the U.N. relief agency.