Head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya phoned on Friday Nasser ad-Din ash-Shaer former Palestinian deputy prime minister and expressed his solidarity with him following a vicious attempt to assassinate him in southern Nablus.
In a statement released by his office Haneyya condemned the assassination attempt as a treacherous and dangerous crime and a violation of the national norms affirming that such crime serves only the occupation state and its lackeys.
The Hamas leader called on Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to swiftly work on having those responsible for the assassination attempt arrested and prosecuted stressing that this crime triggered widespread anger in the Palestinian arena.
He expressed his belief that such criminal behavior would never succeed in silencing the free voices but he warned that it would lead to serious impacts on the internal Palestinian situation.
In a separate statement the Hamas Movement also slammed the attempted assassination of Shaer and called for launching an immediate investigation into the incident to hold the perpetrators accountable regardless of their positions.
“The attempt to assassinate Dr. Shaer the academic and national figure has raised the alarm that there are people who try to strike the Palestinian social fabric and muzzle the honorable national voices in order to serve the Zionist occupation and foreign agendas” Hamas said.
“This crime which happened a few weeks after Dr. Shaer was attacked by the former security of an-Najah University in mid-June entails taking action to protect him and all the national figures” the Movement added.
Nasser ash-Shaer a prominent Hamas-affiliated academic who previously served as a minister in the Palestinian Authority government was shot and injured by unidentified gunmen on Friday afternoon.
The shooting took place in the village of Kafr Qallil near Nablus where Shaer 61 was attending the wedding of a Palestinian man who had been released from an Israeli jail.
Shaer who was hit by six bullets in his legs was rushed to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
