[News] Deadly clashes in West Bank after PA arrests Palestinians wanted by Israel

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-israel-wanted-palestinians-detention-deadly-clashes>
Deadly clashes in West Bank after PA arrests Palestinians wanted by Israel
By Shatha Hammad in Nablus, occupied Palestine
5-6 minutes
------------------------------
[image: image.png]
Palestinian demonstrators protesting the arrest of two Palestinian fighters
clash with Palestinian security forces, in Nablus in the occupied West
Bank, 20 September 2022 (Reuters)

Armed clashes broke out between Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> security forces and
protesters in the early hours of Tuesday after the Palestinian Authority
arrested a high-ranking Hamas member wanted by Israel
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> in an ambush on the
occupied West Bank city of Nablus the night before.

The confrontation persisted through the morning, leaving a 53-year-old
Palestinian, Firas Yaish, killed and another critically wounded.

PA forces arrested Musab Shtayyeh, who had been the target of several
assassination attempts by Israel, in an ambush on Faisal Street, east of
Nablus, shortly before midnight. PA forces also arrested Ameed Tabileh, a
Palestinian fighter close to the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine who is also wanted by Israel, in the same raid.

Shtayyeh had had a close relationship with Ibrahim Nabulsi
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/nablus-palestinians-killed-dozens-injured-israel-army-raid-west-bank>,
a leading member of Fatah’s armed wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who
was shot and killed by Israeli forces in August.

Shtayyeh’s family called for his immediate release and denied PA reports
that they had handed him over to security forces.

“We hold the security forces fully responsible for the life of our hero son
Musab Shtayyeh and the ensuing events and attacks on our people,” the
family said in a statement, demanding access to Shtayyeh to check on his
condition after he was beaten during his arrest.

Hamas, longtime rival of the PA’s leading party Fatah, condemned Shtayyeh’s
arrest, calling it a "kidnapping... a national crime" and a "stain" on the
PA's image.
To Israel's benefit

Hundreds of Palestinians have participated in marches coming out of the
city’s refugee camps, including Balata camp, al-Ain camp and Askar camp,
demanding the immediate release of the detainees. Protesters closed off
streets with burning tyres and hurled rocks at PA armoured vehicles.

Meanwhile, armed Palestinians exchanged fire with security forces, in
clashes that lasted throughout the morning and during which Yaish was
killed.

Gunmen also targeted the PA’s district headquarters with bullets in protest
against the authority’s policies.

The PA’s security services spokesperson Talal Dweikat confirmed Yaish’s
death in a statement, adding that they “are waiting for the medical report”
on the circumstances of his killing.

Dweikat said Yaish was killed "in a place where no security personnel were
present".

Unconfirmed eyewitness reports said Yaish was killed by PA police fire.

[image: Palestinian security forces keep guard following clashes with
gunmen over the arrest of two Palestinian fighters in Nablus on 20
September 2022 (Reuters)]
Palestinian security forces keep guard following clashes with gunmen over
the arrest of two Palestinian fighters in Nablus, 20 September 2022
(Reuters)

[image: image.gif]

[image: image.gif]Four Palestinian protesters were also wounded, including
Anas Abdel-Fattah, a student at al-Najah University and former detainee in
Israeli prisons, who sustained bullet wounds to the stomach and is in a
critical condition.

"We had hoped that popular anger would erupt against the Israeli
occupation, and we have worked towards that, but what the PA’s actions have
done destroyed all our efforts," leader of the Popular Resistance
Committees, Khaled Mansour, told Middle East Eye.

“We've never expected the events that we have been witnessing in Nablus
since last night. They are a result of the PA’s mistakes and
transgressions, which they must retract,” Mansour said.

“Calm will not return until the authority stops detaining and persecuting
people wanted by Israel.”

Mansour also held the PA responsible for the casualties.

"The authority arrests Palestinians and pursues them in accordance with its
obligations with Israel. But Israel violates all treaties with Palestinians
and does not abide by any of them,” he said.

“Israel is the only one benefiting from the events in Nablus today, and we,
the Palestinian people and our resistance, are the losers because of these
unfortunate events.”
The PA's 'own reasons'

The PA did not give a clear account of the unrest, but Dweikat said in its
statement that Shtayyeh and Tabileh were detained “for the security
establishment’s own reasons that will be disclosed later”.

'Calm will not return until the authority stops detaining and persecuting
people wanted by Israel'

*- Khaled Mansour, Popular Resistance Committees*

The detainees “will not be exposed to any harm” and “human rights
organisations would be allowed to visit them immediately”, he added.

The statement attempted a calming tone, but labelled the protests against
the PA as “foreign agendas”.

"Today, when we are in dire need of closing ranks and not being drawn into
some malicious agendas," Dweikat said.

The Nablus-based armed group Lion’s Den, which was founded following
Nabulsi’s assassination, released several statements calling for escalation
against the PA over Shtayyeh’s arrest and the authority’s persecution of
Palestinians on Israel’s wanted list.

The group threatened that the PA security forces would not be allowed in
Nablus city if Shtayyeh was not released.

“We direct an urgent message to the security services: the sons of ‘Lion’s
Den’, and all the Palestinian political factions in Nablus, will not accept
the [Israeli] occupation’s number one wanted person being held in the PA’s
prisons,” the group said.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20220920/c2bdb189/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20220920/c2bdb189/attachment.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20220920/c2bdb189/attachment-0001.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2380833 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20220920/c2bdb189/attachment.png>