Palestinian Militants in the West Bank & Gaza (Israel, sunday)

[michel]

Palestinian militants demand protection

Sunday 05 June, 2005 22:08


Palestinian militants have raided two Palestinian Authority offices to demand jobs and protection in a further sign of lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza.

About 15 members of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, fired in the air at the entrance to Nablus Governor Mohammed al-Alul's office and stormed into the Interior Ministry in the West Bank city.

The militants, wanted by Israel, shouted out demands for jobs and Palestinian Authority guarantees of their safety under any deal to transfer Nablus, now encircled and periodically raided by Israeli troops, to Palestinian security control.

Militants fear a deal on a Nablus pullback would include a demand they hand over their weapons to the Palestinian Authority, making them more vulnerable should Israel decide to go after them.

The gunmen bolted after Palestinian police were called to the scene, the witnesses said.

Israel has pulled forces away from two West Bank cities, Jericho and Tulkarm, and pledged to pull back from three more in a bid to strengthen Abbas's hand against militants in Fatah as well as the rival Islamist Hamas movement.