Witnesses said the PSA officer, identified as Numan Amr, warned Bitawi
that he would be shot if he returned to the mosque. At that point, goaded by
Bitawi's son, Nasser, Amr fired and struck the elder Bitawi in the legs.
"This is a very dangerous incident with grave repercussions
on the dialogue [between Hamas and Fatah]," PLC member Fathi Hamad, a Hamas
member, said. "We are planning a series of protests because Sheik Bitawi is
also the chairman of the Palestinian Religious Scholars Council."
The shooting took place a day after three Fatah operatives were shot by
Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip. For its part, the PA said it has
arrested Amr.
"He was acting on a personal motive," PA police spokesman Col. Adnan
Damari said.
The sources said this marked the second shooting of Bitawi in less than
a year. In 2008, Bitawi and other Hamas members came under fire from PA
officers in the same mosque in Nablus. Nobody was hurt, and there were no
arrests made.
"What are [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas's security forces doing?" Bitawi
asked. "They are responsible for the chaos."
The PA crackdown has taken place amid the release of a report by the New
York-based Human Rights Watch, which detailed 31 complaints of torture by PA
security forces during a two-month period that ended in February 2009. HRW
cited 31 complaints of torture during PA detention by security forces
trained by the United States and European Union.
The Palestinian sources said Hamas legislators in the West Bank have
comprised a key target by the PA. PLC member Mushir Al Masri, a Hamas
member, said PA security forces have been arresting and assaulting
legislators and torching their offices.
"They are running wild," Al Masri said.
