HEBRON (Al-Khalil) (PIC)– Hundreds of angry Palestinians on Sunday stoned the main Fatah-run PA security headquarters in downtown Hebron in protest against the arrest and beating by Fatah militiamen earlier of dozens Hebron University students who were protesting hikes in college tuitions.
The protesters briefly closed the Ein Sarah St one of the main thoroughfares in Hebron and shouted slogans against the Palestinian Authority regime of the American-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
According to eyewitnesses the protesters called the PA “Lahdis” a reference to Antoin Lahd the commander of the defunct Israeli puppet south Lebanese Army which most Lebanese and Arabs viewed as group of quislings working for Israel.
Other slogans such as “collaborators” “traitors” and “Israeli agents” were also heard during the one-hour protest.
The Fatah security personnel fired heavily into the air to disperse the protesters but no serious injuries have been reported.
The appointed Governor of Hebron Hussein Al-Araj called for calm calling the events which took place near the Hebron University Sunday morning a “fitna” an Arabic term connoting divisiveness disunity and confusion.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reportedly ordered a swift investigation into the Hebron University events. One source intimated that the Ramallah-based government has decided to transfer or fire Samih Seifi the Commander of the Hebron Region for personally assaulting and beating a local cameraman working for Reuters.
The Hebron district the largest in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 is under total Israeli occupation and the PA security agencies are only entrusted with “maintaining security” (in coordination with the Israeli army) within the confines of certain population centers classified as “Area-A.”
Many members of the security agencies suffer from demoralization lack of discipline and very poor training which often leads to problems with citizens.
Earlier dozens of heavily armed PA gunmen including many masked Fatah militiamen violently ganged up and severely beat students and journalists causing moderate to serious injuries to two local journalists.
Following the ugly incident notables from some of the largest Hebron clans warned the PA regime that the local community was increasingly fed up with the heavy-handed behavior of the security agencies.
Hebron is considered an important support-base for the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas. In the 2006 elections the Islamic movement won an overwhelming victory in Hebron.
However following the mid-June events in Gaza the Fatah-run PA regime the creation of which was made possible thanks to American financial and political backing sought to crack down on Hamas by arresting supporters closing charities and especially by persecuting and firing Islamic-oriented civil servants appointed by the previous two Hamas-led governments.
The persecution along with the unmitigated campaign of ugly incitement against Hamas and its Islamic ideology has ostensibly increased disenchantment with the Ramallah regime which is being viewed by a growing segment of Palestinians as being at Israel’s beck and call.
This week a number of Fatah leaders in Hebron reportedly warned the PA regime that Hebron was different than other Palestinian districts and that any miscalculation toward the populace by the security agencies could lead to an uprising against Fatah and the PA rule.
