The Palestinian presidency on Wednesday has urged Palestinians to maintain “calm” after violent confrontations having erupted between angry gunmen and security forces in the city of Nablus north of the West Bank.
Prior to the breakout of violence, the angry gunmen were protesting the arrest of wanted armed individuals being pursued by Israel.
Presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh urged calm in Nablus in order not to give way to those conspiring against the national Palestinian project.
Abu Rudeineh also called for “confronting the conspiracies of the occupation and some regional countries that want to harm the Palestinian national project.”
According to Abu Rudeineh, the presidency called on Palestinians “to unite at this dangerous stage that their national cause is going through.”
The spokesperson also warned against Palestinians being drawn behind malicious agendas and reaffirmed that spilling Palestinian blood was unacceptable.
“We affirm the sanctity of Palestinian blood, the need to maintain order and security in the Palestinian street, and to display a spirit of responsibility,” noted Abu Rudeineh, stressing that the main battle is with the Israeli occupation.
The appeal for calm to prevail came during unprecedented confrontations in Nablus, where clashes continued throughout Monday and Tuesday night.
The altercations took two forms. Shooting confrontations took place between armed Palestinian organizations and members of the security services on one side, and popular confrontations, during which angry youths blocked roads and threw stones and bottles at the Palestinian security forces.
Clashes and widespread confrontations erupted after Palestinian Authority security forces arrested two individuals wanted by the Israelis, Musab Shtayyeh and Ameed Tabila.
Shatayyeh and Tabila were arrested in a tight ambush in Nablus.
The arrest of Shtayyeh, who is a Hamas operative, came amid a wave of Israeli operations against militants in the West Bank, concentrated largely in the cities of Jenin and Nablus.
The Israeli operations have been met by many confrontations and clashes over the past few weeks.
