PA officials said Hamas has been organizing violent student demonstrations against the regime of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The officials said the unrest was meant to counter the massive Fatah-organized protests in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas has been severely embarrassed by the Fatah protests in the Gaza Strip and was using the Islamists to create similar problems in the West Bank," a PA security source said.

PA police and security forces tried to prevent journalists from covering the demonstration. Witnesses said several television news crews and stills photographers were beaten.

Hamas supporters said PA forces surrounded Hebron University and prevented students from staging a news conference. At that point, the students sought to meet journalists outside the campus where they were attacked by the PA Preventive Security Apparatus, the leading security agency in the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, Fatah succeeded in shutting schools and stores as part of a general strike declared on Sunday. This was the first general strike in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover in June 2007. Gaza's three universities, Al Azhar, Al Aqsa and Al Quds were also closed.