Palestinian Security Forces Battle West Bank Residents

The death of a man taken into custody by the Palestinian security forces triggered violent clashes in the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday. Exact circumstances of Ahmed Halawa’s death remain unknown except that after he was detained by the Palestinian security forces, he was taken to a prison in Nablus where he later died. The governor of Nablus charged the security forces with beating Halawa – a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a violent arm of the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — to death. Hundreds of Palestinians marched through the streets of Nablus hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at security personnel despite the belief by some that his arrest and violent death was in retribution for his involvement in the shooting last week of two Palestinian police officers.