Palestinian Authority security forces on Tuesday raided student dormitories at Bir Zeit University, north of Ramallah, as part of an ongoing crackdown on Hamas supporters in the West Bank.
The predawn raid, which drew sharp criticism from students and other Palestinians, is seen by Palestinians in the context of the dispute between the PA and Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
“The [Palestinian] General Intelligence officers raided the dormitories after midnight and searched some of the rooms,” one of the students told the Ultra Palestine website. “They searched my room and asked me about posters of [slain anti-corruption activist] Nizar Banat and other banners. One of the officers told me, ‘Take care of yourself; don’t cause trouble.’”
Banat, a resident of Hebron, was beaten to death by PA security forces during a raid on his home in June 2021. He was famous for posting videos on social media in which he accused PA officials of corruption.The student, who was not identified by name, said he heard the screams of other students who were apparently beaten by the PA officers.
مقطع فيديو يوثّق اقتحام قوة من الأجهزة الأمنية الفلسطينية سكنات طلبة من جامعة بيرزيت شمال رام الله، الليلة الماضية. pic.twitter.com/wg2OOK8bwd
— Ultra Palestine - الترا فلسطين (@palestineultra) August 23, 2022
A representative of the Hamas-affiliated Islamic Bloc at Bir Zeit University said two of his colleagues were severely beaten by the officers during the raid. The officers also confiscated the laptops of the two students and handed them summonses for interrogation.
Bir Zeit University Student Council chairman Yahya Qarout strongly condemned the raid by the PA security forces, saying it was totally unjustified.
The raid coincided with the summoning of one of the students of the Islamic Bloc for interrogation by the Israeli authorities, he said, adding that several students were summoned for interrogation by the PA security forces after the raid.In May, Hamas scored a landslide victory in elections for the Bir Zeit University Student Council. Hamas supporters won 28 seats on the council, while their rivals in the ruling Fatah faction received 18 seats.
Progressive Students’ Union Bloc
The Progressive Students’ Union Bloc, which is affiliated with the Palestinian People’s Party (formerly the Palestinian Communist Party), condemned the raid on the dormitories. It said masked PA security officers accused some of the students of “incitement against the Palestinian Authority.”
“The Progressive Students’ Union Bloc rejects this explicit attack on the students, not only because they are students at Bir Zeit University, but rather as Palestinian citizens who have full legal rights,” it added.
“The Progressive Students’ Union Bloc rejects this explicit attack on the students, not only because they are students at Birzeit University, but rather as Palestinian citizens who have full legal rights.”
Progressive Students’ Union Bloc
The group called for launching a “serious investigation into the violation of the students’ human rights and freedom.
Earlier, PA security officers confiscated Hamas banners during a raid on the home of Amjad Sayeh in Nablus, where Palestinians were celebrating his release from Israeli prison.
The Ramallah-based Lawyers for Justice human-rights group on Tuesday said it had documented 117 cases of “political arrests” by the PA security forces since last June. Among those arrested were six Palestinians who previously served time in Israeli prison and who have been held in the PA’s Jericho Prison for more than two months, it said.
PA security forces continue to arrest Palestinians
The PA security forces continue to arrest Palestinians for criticizing or opposing the Palestinian leadership, and some of the detainees have complained that they were tortured while in PA custody, Lawyers for Justice said. It called for an end to “political arrests” and the release of all the detainees.
Lawyers for Justice also said one of its lawyers had been summoned last week by the PA security forces for interrogation about his role in defending Palestinians held in PA prisons.
PA security forces spokesman Talal Dweikat denied the allegations that Palestinians were being arrested because of their political affiliation.
Commenting on claims by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad regarding the PA security crackdown in the West Bank, he said it was “painful that such statements are being made [by Hamas and Islamic Jihad] at a time when the Palestinian people and their leadership are under attack,” following PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s remarks in Germany in which he accused Israel of committing “50 holocausts” against the Palestinians.
Dweikat accused Hamas of arresting and imposing restrictions on dozens of Palestinians who are affiliated with Fatah in the Gaza Strip.
A committee representing the families of Palestinians held in PA prisons denounced his remarks and accused him of lying.
Dweikat’s statements came in response to a joint statement issued by Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Monday night calling on the PA to immediately release from its prisons all the “political detainees, especially those held in the notorious Jericho Prison.”
The two groups also called on the PA to halt security coordination with Israel, walk away from the Oslo Accords and allow Palestinians in the West Bank to carry out “resistance attacks” against Israel.