Palestinian killed in gun battle after West Bank raid

PALESTINIAN security forces exchanged fire with militants yesterday as angry residents pelted an official armoured vehicle with metal bars, marking a rare case of internal fighting in the occupied West Bank.

The incident was prompted by an arrest raid against two Islamist Hamas militants in the city of Nablus.

A 53-year-old man, known only as Firas, was shot dead and it is not clear whether the bullet came from the Palestinian Authority or militants. Hamas, which is locked in a bitter rivalry with the Palestinian Authority, said Palestinian security forces had killed him.

Videos posted on social media show young residents hitting a Palestinian military jeep-style car with bricks, stones and metal bars before chasing the vehicle from the central Martyrs Square.

Residents accused the Palestinian security forces of making the arrests on behalf of Israel and began shooting into the air and burning tires. The Palestinian security forces responded with tear gas, and exchanges of fire took place.

The conflict reflects the deep unpopularity of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, which is widely seen as collaborating with an entrenched system of Israeli military domination.

Palestinian officials declined to comment on the operation.

Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank is now in its 55th year, with no signs of ending.

The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank, home to some 500,000 Israeli settlers, as the heartland of a future independent state.