The PA has confirmed the attack by three masked gunmen, which shut down
the event on July 27. But an organizer of the festival, Taysir Nasrallah,
said.
Israel Army troops prevented PA security forces from guarding the event.
"They saw the arson [of the stage], but they couldn't stop it because of
security arrangements with Israel," Nasrallah said.
But both Israeli and Palestinian sources dismissed Nasrallah's
assertion. They said PA police and NSF units, which numbered at least 500
officers, refused to stop Fatah operatives because of lack of clear orders
from security commanders. U.S. security envoy Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, who
promoted the festival, was not in Nablus during the arson.
"Everybody knew this was planned and financed by the United States and
the security arrangements were set by Dayton," a Fatah official in Nablus
said. "This was a way to show Dayton and
the PA who controls the city."
Dayton pressed the Israel Army to reduce restrictions on Palestinian
travel throughout the West Bank to ensure a successful festival, the opening
of which was attended by Arab and Western diplomats as well as PA Prime
Minister Salam Fayad. The sources said the army expanded Palestinian traffic
to Nablus as well as additional PA forces into the city, regarded as the
economic capital of the West Bank. About 500 NSF troops, trained in a
U.S.-financed facility in Jordan, have been deployed in Nablus throughout
the last year.
Palestinian sources said Fatah opposed the Nablus festival and warned
that it would be sabotaged. They said Fatah gunmen warned NSF and police not
to protect the event despite U.S. support.
After two days of the festival, which included rap and rock music, Fatah
operatives entered the festival area in downtown Nablus, poured gasoline on
the two stages and set them on fire. The sources said PA police stationed at
the site did nothing.
This was said to have been the second major failure by U.S.-trained PA
security forces in Nablus over the last three months. In April, NSF and
police units, directed by Dayton's team, failed to raid Fatah militia
strongholds in the Old City of Nablus.
The sources said Fatah gunmen opened with heavy fire toward the
300-member PA force in the Old City. The PA troops retreated and eventually
the operation was called off.
"We're talking about maybe a dozen Fatah gunmen, no more," another
Palestinian source said. "NSF has failed miserably when it comes to stopping
Fatah criminals."