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A Visit to Nablus

(Al-Ahram-Egypt) Graham Usher - On Sept. 13, 100 or so Aksa Martyrs Brigades militiamen torched the home of Hamad Hajat, a PA police officer in Nablus. It was revenge for Hajat's slaying of one their men, they said. Hajat is in hiding, his family has fled to Jordan. At the time of the attack, a hundred of Nablus's 4,000 policemen stood on the road opposite the house. As soon as the first explosive charge was lit, "they melted away", says Aboud Ateer, a witness. "The PA only exists nominally in Nablus," says former Nablus mayor Ghassan Shakaa, whose brother was killed in a drive-by shooting last November. The killer is known and belongs to one of the Fatah militias in the city. "It's like what happened to Nabil Amr (a PA lawmaker shot in Ramallah in July). Nobody in the PA wants to know who shot him. Instead we blame the Israelis," he said. Shakaa says that with the collapse of the PA the militias are becoming younger, bolder, more popular, and more dangerous. Some are nationalist, but most are young guns hired by this or that PA chieftain or "outside powers like Syria, Iran, and Hizballah," he says. "Syria has another agenda. It wants Palestine to be like Lebanon - in its pocket." Since the PA's Central Election Commission (CEC) began voter registration for PA municipal elections on September 4, only 7% have registered in Nablus: in certain neighborhoods the rate is 3%. The apathy is "a kind of protest against the PA," says Shakaa. The one exception to this torpor is Hamas and a handful of Palestinian political parties or civic associations. Imams at Hamas-allied mosques are urging their congregations to get out and vote. Polls show Hamas running neck and neck with Fatah throughout the territories. In Gaza, it is the most popular faction. In Nablus, Islamist blocs control Al-Najah University and several professional associations. How would Hamas do in Nablus? "It would win - no question," says Shakaa.
2004-09-24 00:00:00
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