On Sept. 24, Fatah-aligned gunmen opened fire toward the Jaffa Cultural
Center in a refugee camp east of Nablus. The attack took place at 1:20 a.m.
and damaged windows and air conditioners.
"I immediately went to the offices once I received a phone call that
they were fired upon," Jaffa director Fayez Hassan Arafat said.
Arafat did not say why the center was targeted. The Balata refugee camp
has long been the battleground of crime cells linked to Fatah and other
Palestinian factions.
Palestinian sources said security forces have increased their patrols of
Balata. They said five suspects were arrested and interrogated in connection
with the shooting. The PA has not disclosed details.
"A security force was in the area and initiated investigations," Arafat
said.
The sources said Nablus has been divided into areas controlled by Fatah
and the rival Hamas movement. The city, supported by the United States in
promoting Western-style culture and tourism in the PA, has been headed by a
Hamas mayor.
The cultural center was designed to focus on the development of
children. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has called for an
investigation into the shooting.
"PCHR strongly condemns this attack, which is part of the state of
security chaos and proliferation of weapons in the occupied Palestinian
territories, and calls upon the attorney general's office to seriously
investigate it and bring the perpetrators to justice," the human rights
center said.