PA security officers open fire at funeral of Fatah leader beaten to death in prison

Palestinian Authority security officers opened fire and shot tear gas canisters at the funeral of the leader of Fatah’s military wing, Al-Resalah reported on Sunday. Colonel Ahmed Halawah of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades was buried in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

A lawyer for the colonel’s family, Mohamed Halawah, told the newspaper that the participation of tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens in the funeral “provoked” the PA security services into opening fire.

“The funeral was going according to plan,” he explained, “but the PA attacked it. This is not an attack on the Halawah family, but an attack on all the Palestinians who rejected the PA aggression on the Palestinian citizens in Nablus.”

The lawyer accused the PA security services and the PA-appointed governor of Nablus of being “illegitimate” if this is the way that they deal with people in the city.

According to Al-Resalah, some of the participants in the funeral procession were wounded by the gunfire. It added that thousands of those who took part called for Governor Akram Al-Rajoub, as well as the PA Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah, to be ousted. They accuse the two PA officials of executing Colonel Halawah.