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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-israel-wanted-palestinians-detention-deadly-clashes">middleeasteye.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Deadly clashes in West Bank after PA arrests Palestinians wanted by Israel</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Shatha Hammad in Nablus, occupied Palestine</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">5-6 minutes</div>
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<div><img src="cid:ii_l8ad7z3p2" alt="image.png" width="454" height="303"><br>
<font size="1">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)
</font><p>Armed clashes broke out between <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinian</a>
security forces and protesters in the early hours of Tuesday after the
Palestinian Authority arrested a high-ranking Hamas member wanted by <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israel</a> in an ambush on the occupied West Bank city of Nablus the night before. </p>
<p>The confrontation persisted through the morning, leaving a
53-year-old Palestinian, Firas Yaish, killed and another critically
wounded.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Shtayyeh had had a close relationship with <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/nablus-palestinians-killed-dozens-injured-israel-army-raid-west-bank" target="_blank">Ibrahim Nabulsi</a>, a leading member of Fatah’s armed wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in August.</p>
<p>Shtayyeh’s family called for his immediate release and denied PA reports that they had handed him over to security forces. </p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<h3>To Israel's benefit</h3>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, armed Palestinians exchanged fire with security forces, in
clashes that lasted throughout the morning and during which Yaish was
killed.</p>
<p>Gunmen also targeted the PA’s district headquarters with bullets in protest against the authority’s policies.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Dweikat said Yaish was killed "in a place where no security personnel were present".</p>
<p>Unconfirmed eyewitness reports said Yaish was killed by PA police fire. </p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/Nablus-clashes-palestinian-authority-forces-reuters-september-2022.jpg" alt="Palestinian security forces keep guard following clashes with gunmen over the arrest of two Palestinian fighters in Nablus on 20 September 2022 (Reuters)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="454" height="283"></p>
Palestinian security forces keep guard following clashes
with gunmen over the arrest of two Palestinian fighters in Nablus, 20
September 2022 (Reuters)</div>
<p><span><img src="cid:ii_l8ad71sc0" alt="image.gif" width="15" height="15"></span></p>
<p><span><img src="cid:ii_l8ad71sf1" alt="image.gif" width="15" height="15"></span>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. </p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“Calm will not return until the authority stops detaining and persecuting people wanted by Israel.”</p>
<p>Mansour also held the PA responsible for the casualties.</p>
<p>"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. </p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<h3>The PA's 'own reasons'</h3>
<p>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”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'Calm will not return until the authority stops detaining and persecuting people wanted by Israel'</p>
<p><em>- Khaled Mansour, Popular Resistance Committees</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The detainees “will not be exposed to any harm” and “human rights
organisations would be allowed to visit them immediately”, he added.</p>
<p>The statement attempted a calming tone, but labelled the protests against the PA as “foreign agendas”.</p>
<p>"Today, when we are in dire need of closing ranks and not being drawn into some malicious agendas," Dweikat said.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The group threatened that the PA security forces would not be allowed in Nablus city if Shtayyeh was not released.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
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