Violence spreads to the West Bank; one man killed, three injured

Smoke rises from the PLC in Ramallah on Sunday(MaanImages)

October 2, 2006

Nablus - Ma'an - One Palestinian man was killed, and three were injured, including the guard of the deputy prime minister, in Fatah-Hamas clashes in the West Bank on Monday.

Following the bloody events in the Gaza Strip on Monday, tensions are high across the occupied West Bank.

In Nablus, in the north of the West Bank, armed men shot at the guards of Nasser Addin Ash- Sha'er, the deputy prime minister, injuring three of them. Palestinian security sources confirmed that Samir Darwazah, 26, a guard of Ash-Sha'er, had been admitted to hospital in Nablus. Rabe'a Abu Lail, 28, from Fatah, was reported to be injured and Omar Dawlah, 25, from Hamas, was also slightly injured in the hand.

Eyewitnesses said that the clashes occurred near the 'Tufulah Centre', in the east of the city. The clashes lasted for more than ten minutes.

In Jericho, Nasser Addin Jafari, 36, was killed by armed men when they were forcing all shopkeepers to close their shops on Monday morning. The killing of the man created a state of tension in the city. Many citizens are very angry followed this incident and about the way people are being forced to be on strike.

On Sunday in Jericho, many angry people attacked offices belonging to Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and set them ablaze. The Fatah movement in Jericho has condemned the events that took place in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and warned against attacking its members.

In Bethlehem, in the south of the West Bank, unidentified men burned the offices of Hamas members of the PLC. Fatah members of the PLC have condemned this attack and expressed their rejections of all forms of violence. Armed men belonging to the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Brigades also marched on the interior ministry offices in Bethlehem on Monday and forcibly closed the building by welding the gates together.

In Jenin and Qabatiya, in the north of the West Bank, there were several reports of gunfire. Our reporter said that armed men fired intensively at the office of Fadil Bushnaq, a Hamas member in Jenin, and burned the car of Osama Khalid, the director of engineering in the municipality of Jenin.

In Qabatiya, masked men attacked a cultural center that is considered close to Hamas and destroyed all its contents, including the computers.

Update:

New Gunbattles Leave Two Dead in Gaza Strip