Last update - 00:00 09/09/2007
Fatah-linked forces beat Hamas students protesting in W. Bank
By The Associated Press
Palestinian security allied with the Fatah rulers of the West Bank beat protesters of the rival Hamas group in a demonstration Sunday in the city of Hebron.
Hundreds of Hamas students gathered outside the Hebron University in Hebron to protest an increase in tuition, witnesses said. Palestinian security asked the demonstrators to move to university grounds and, when they failed to comply, began beating the protesters with clubs, said witnesses.
Some 20 students were beaten and arrested.
The security also forbade journalists from taking pictures, confiscating the camera of one photographer, witnesses said. Some journalists were also beaten.
The Tel Aviv-based Foreign Press Association issued a harsh statement condemning the behavior of Palestinian security, as the incident was merely the latest in a series of such protests.
"We demand that those responsible be held fully accountable. Only if justice is served and those responsible are punished to the full extent of the law, will the culture of impunity around intimidating and harassing journalists end," said the FPA, which represents foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The incident followed a similar scene in the Gaza Strip on Friday, in which Hamas security forces beat Fatah protesters who tried to hold public prayers in the Gaza streets despite a Hamas ban against such activity.
Friction between the groups has been high since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June, prompting Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah to dismiss Hamas from a unity government and install a Western-backed Cabinet in the West Bank.