Abbas fires senior aide for criticising PA over Nizar Banat murder

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has fired a senior aide over his criticism of the PA’s murder of Palestinian West Bank activist Nizar Banat, AP revealed on Tuesday.

The director of Ramallah’s national library Ehab Bseiso wrote in a letter, a copy of which reached AP, stating that he was removed from his post as director of the library and member of its board of trustees.

In his letter, dated 27 June, he stated that Abbas did not give a reason for his dismissal, but noted that the decision was taken only three days after he denounced the murder of Nizar Banat on his Facebook page.

“Nothing justifies committing a crime,” Bseiso, a former cabinet minister and government spokesperson, posted on his Facebook page. “Killing a human being is a crime, no matter how blurry, ambiguous and emotional the picture seems.”

He also posted: “Difference in opinion is not an epidemic, or an emergency, or a justification for bloodshed.”

Since Banat’s murder, the PA has been violently cracking down on Palestinians protesting against his murder in the occupied West Bank.

Over 80 Palestinians have been detained since the start of the protests against Banat’s murder, bringing the total number of political prisoners in the PA’s prisons to 100, Safa Press Agency revealed.

READ: Complicity and accountability in Banat’s killing