Palestinian shot in Nablus brawl dies

Mohammed Radad involved in Tuesday's Fatah-Hamas fight at An Najah University.

jp.services1 (photo credit: )
jp.services1
(photo credit: )
A university student shot during a brawl between supporters of Fatah and Hamas at a West Bank university died of his wounds Friday, hospital officials said. The student, 20-year-old Mohammed Radad, was shot by Fatah-allied gunmen on Tuesday, when students aligned with the rival groups clashed on the campus of An Najah University in Nablus. Palestinian security forces intervened, accompanied by Fatah men in civilian clothes, wounding three students with gunfire. Witnesses said Radad, a Hamas supporter, was shot in the head by one of the armed men. Hospital officials said Radad died of his head wound Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The university fight began when Hamas supporters staged a sit-in on campus, raising the Islamic movement's green flags. Fatah activists demanded that the flags be removed, and a fistfight erupted. Dozens of Palestinian security officers accompanied by about two dozen gunmen then broke into the university and opened fire, witnesses said. The rivalry between the two factions has long been violent, but peaked in mid-June when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, easily defeating Fatah forces in five days of fighting. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah then took full control of the West Bank, and his government has arrested dozens of Hamas men since then. Earlier this month, a clash at the 7,500-student Bir Zeit University erupted when Hamas supporters protested Fatah's arrest of three Hamas students. Twenty people were hospitalized in the fighting, and the campus was temporarily closed.