shooting in the streets
flyingears
Hey. I am in Nablus today, at the apartment. There has been a gun battle in the streets for the last few hours. It has been concentrated in the city center, which is where this apartment is. The fighting has been between fighters in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the police force of the Palestinian Authority. It sucks. This is just what Israel wants and facilitates. The fighting has been loud—a lot of gunfire, fighters in the streets, people shouting and running. I tried going to Balata with two other internationals for a wedding but the taxis weren’t really running. We found one that said he would take us around the fighting to Balata but as we entered the circle of the city center, the fighting spilled into that area. Groups of onlookers were standing, or running and scattering. A few men were shooting up into a huge parking garage. As the taxi driver manoeuvred through the street, I turned and saw a man let off some quick bursts of fire from some kind of gun, shooting up into the parking garage. Someone else was shooting an AK-47. We decided to postpone the trip to Balata and, after the taxi turned a corner, got out and went back to the apartment, about half a block away. I watched things from the window for awhile as the fighting moved into the street below. It was loud.
A friend of mine told me that one of the fighters was shot in the chest and is at the Rafidiyah Hospital. Someone at the mosque began making an announcement—something about asking everyone to stop shooting and that this is internal fighting and must stop because we don’t want a civil war.
The shooting has stopped for now, it seems. Some tires were lit on fire in the street below by some youth. Now, though, it is quiet and people are walking on the streets again.
Hey. I am in Nablus today, at the apartment. There has been a gun battle in the streets for the last few hours. It has been concentrated in the city center, which is where this apartment is. The fighting has been between fighters in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the police force of the Palestinian Authority. It sucks. This is just what Israel wants and facilitates. The fighting has been loud—a lot of gunfire, fighters in the streets, people shouting and running. I tried going to Balata with two other internationals for a wedding but the taxis weren’t really running. We found one that said he would take us around the fighting to Balata but as we entered the circle of the city center, the fighting spilled into that area. Groups of onlookers were standing, or running and scattering. A few men were shooting up into a huge parking garage. As the taxi driver manoeuvred through the street, I turned and saw a man let off some quick bursts of fire from some kind of gun, shooting up into the parking garage. Someone else was shooting an AK-47. We decided to postpone the trip to Balata and, after the taxi turned a corner, got out and went back to the apartment, about half a block away. I watched things from the window for awhile as the fighting moved into the street below. It was loud.
A friend of mine told me that one of the fighters was shot in the chest and is at the Rafidiyah Hospital. Someone at the mosque began making an announcement—something about asking everyone to stop shooting and that this is internal fighting and must stop because we don’t want a civil war.
The shooting has stopped for now, it seems. Some tires were lit on fire in the street below by some youth. Now, though, it is quiet and people are walking on the streets again.
posted by matt iv at 9:36 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Matt,
I read about the shooting and hoped you are safe, it was a relief to see your posting. I hope you don't mind that I'm going to send out your blog address to all my closest friends. It is awesome to get unfiltered news from Nablus. The shootings were characterized here pretty much like you described. Many reporters almost say that they are a good sign, that the authorities are controlling the radicals. Stay safe, Tom
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