Shin Bet's Secret Drive

In their latest effort to quell the intifadeh, Israeli authorities announced last week that they had deported four more leaders of the revolt to Lebanon and served expulsion orders on 25 others. They also formally outlawed the Palestinian popular committees that help run the uprising in cities and towns throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The new crackdown stems from a secret drive against the intifadeh by Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet. Earlier this month, two Shin Bet agents riding in an unmarked Subaru abducted Mohammed Abu Hamam as he strolled down a street in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Abu Hamam, 34, is a key intifadeh leader who belongs to Yasser Arafat's Fatah guerrilla group.

Fatah sources claim that Abu Hamam and some other recent detainees were tortured by Shin Bet and forced to reveal the names of confederates; Israeli officials deny any knowledge of the matter. So far, Shin Bet has arrested more than a dozen additional Palestinian leaders and confiscated a printing press used to churn out leaflets from the intifadeh command.

Though the arrests dealt a blow to Fatah's organization in the occupied territories, the uprising showed no signs of letting up. Last week's rioting, the worst in six months, left three Palestinians dead, including a nine-year- old Arab girl, and some 300 injured, many of them from beatings. The Palestinian death toll after nine months of unrest: 248.