PRESS RELEASE

August 27, 2003

Nablus’ Residents Are Not Afraid of the Israeli Defense Forces

Some residents in Nablus admit that they welcomed the curfew that the IDF troops enforced in their city last Thursday, and that they are not afraid of them. In their point of view, the curfew prevented a collapse of internal order and security in the West Bank.

Some local residents in Nablus admit that they had been convulsed by a series of killings and murders and by shooting sprees on the street perpetrated by gunmen who claim that they belong to the Fatah movement. These gunmen’s aim is to intimidate the locals or to carve out turf for themselves.

Three Palestinians were killed by Palestinian gunmen during August. Nablus’ residents ask some Palestinian leaders to do something about these gunmen and the violence that grips the city. The local residents said that the Palestinian security system had to use all its power to prevent this collapse of internal order.

On Monday august 18, Shua’ib Shakshir, who was a worker in a factory, was murdered by masked men who broke into the factory and opened fire before security men could respond. Shakshir was killed, although he was not the target.

After few days, masked men also killed Ziyad Abu Hamdan, who was a guard at a cell phone store owned by the target. A flyer circulated by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades declared that the shooting attacks came as a result of various power struggles between rival families.

Following the murders, armed groups started to attack one another in the city, cars and houses burned, the brother of Nablus’ governor was kidnapped for several hours, and a restaurant was destroyed. About 10 people were wounded by the street shootings. Armed masked men erected checkpoints in the city.

Although some Nablus’ residents are not afraid of the curfew that the IDF troops enforced in their city, this does not mean that they are happy of the curfew. Five Palestinians were killed by the Israeli forces during the period between August 8 and August 22. Moreover, the Israeli army damaged seven of 14 health clinics in a compound operated by the non-government Work Committees Onion of Health. These facilities provide free health care to the city’s residents.

The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) is a Palestinian, independent, non-governmental organization working to end human rights violations committed against Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, regardless of those responsible.  The members of the Monitoring Group believe that the strength of democracy and civil society in Palestinian society will be determined by the Palestinian people, through their defense or neglect of human rights.

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