The World : Israelis Raid Arab Villages

Israeli soldiers raided more than a dozen West Bank villages and wounded 18 Palestinians as a general strike against school closures nearly shut down the occupied territories, Israeli and Palestinian sources said. The army confirmed 15 casualties. An army spokeswoman said the search-and-arrest raids were timed to coincide with the one-day strike, called to protest the extended shuttering of schools and universities by Israeli authorities, who say the institutions are a flash point of anti-Israeli violence. Universities have been closed since the start of the uprising last December, and West Bank schools have been closed during most of that time.