By Hadeel Wahdan
 

PALESTINIAN GUNMEN from the Al Amari refugee camp in Ramallah clashed with Palestinian national security forces resulting in at least 13 injuries, including a policeman from president Yasser Arafat’s personal guard, Force 17, on the outskirts of Ramallah, Monday, July 3, 2000.

The shooting came during protest against the Palestinian Higher State Security Court Monday decision to sentence Raji Ibrahim Saqr, 29, to death by hanging. Palestinian Police Chief Ghazi Jebali, said, Saqr was convicted of murdering a Palestinian woman and of carrying an unlicensed gun.

Jamal Azzah, 24, was convicted of being an accomplice in the murder and was sentenced to 12 years with hard labor. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat hasn't ratified the verdict yet.

The court session convened at a late hour Sunday, 2 July 2000, consisting of a three-judge panel with Ahmad Abu Dayyeh, Ahmad al Hindi and presided by Judge Fathi Abu Srour. This sentence raises the number of death penalty sentences issued by the State Security Court to ten; none of these sentences has been ratified by the President. The Military Court of the PA issued 16 death sentences, three of which were ratified by the President and executed.

Friends and relatives of Saqr, a resident of camp, blocked the main road between Ramallah and Jerusalem, protesting the sentence, and calling upon the PA to reduce it to a prison term. When Palestinian policemen tried to open the road, someone started to shoot and triggered off a shoot-out between the police and demonstrators which resulted in more than 10 people being wounded, a senior PA security officer said.

He said all security branches are cooperating on the investigation. He admitted that illegal weapons are a major problem in the PA-controlled areas.

Saqr, a member of Fatah, shot and killed Ahlam Doqmaq, 25, on Saturday, as

She worked in her father's butcher shop. The PA security officer said Saqr

had business with Doqmaq's brother, also a Fatah member. He said the murder was the result of a dispute over a stolen car. "These people are using their membership in Fatah to cover-up their criminal activities," he said.

Col. Jibril Rjoub, Chief of Palestinian Preventive Security Apparatus, said all necessary measures have been taken to restore normal life in the districts of Ramallah and al-Bireh. Rjoub added that the police will assume their duties and the security forces will confront any attempt to obstruct normal life and will arrest any person who violates the law, including gathering unlicensed arms. He said they would arrest all the symbols of thugs that work outside the context of the law and that "enough is enough". Jibril described the incidents as "a national tragedy".