Nablus: The lawlessness that led the moderate Fatah faction to lose control of Gaza is repeating itself in the West Bank, a senior Palestinian official has claimed.
Unless something is done to neutralise unofficial armed militias, some of the region could fall to Hamas, the hardline Islamic faction, dooming any chance of an independent state in the near future.
Taysir Nasrallah, an electoral officer, also cautioned the international community not to rely on the weak leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian national authority.
"Mr Abbas's leadership is not strong enough to stand up to the armed factions here in the West Bank," Nasrallah said in his home town of Nablus.
"He is also not strong enough to stand up to the Israelis or to win the confidence of the Palestinian people that Israel will end its occupation and remove the reason for the armed factions to exist. So we have more chaos here, more criminality and more lawlessness - just as there was in Gaza before Hamas took over.
"Unless the security situation improves there is a chance that what happened in Gaza could happen here too."
Licence for stolen car
The West Bank is the last piece of Palestinian territory nominally under the control of Fatah and Abbas, its leader. But the gunmen who routinely run amok here do not belong to any of the official security agencies.
"This week a local gunman took a stolen car to the licensing authority and when the manager refused to give him a licence, he shot the ceiling of the office and went outside still shooting," Nasrallah said.
"This was about 20 metres from an official police checkpoint but they did nothing.
"Eventually, another manager came, apologised and gave the gunman the licence for the stolen car."
Main exit point
The lawlessness is blamed in part on Israel's tight control of places like Nablus. Aggrieved Palestinians form their own anti-Israeli resistance militias that quickly evolve into criminal gangs.
Israel has promised to shore up Abbas's authority by showing the Palestinian people he can deliver improvements to their everyday lives. But for the 130,000 Palestinians in Nablus, such promises ring hollow.
Israel agreed to ease off searching for some suspects - mostly members of Fatah - as part of its support for Abbas. But in the Balata refugee camp on the edge of Nablus the situation remains tense.
Ala Sanakreh, a 26-year-old gunman from Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, Fatah's armed wing, had been on the run from Israeli troops for three years when he found himself suddenly offered an amnesty.
Speaking at his family's home in Balata, he said he had obeyed all the amnesty's terms and handed over his weapons. But when he stood up, a pistol was visible in his waistband.
"The Israelis have offered me amnesty but not to my brother, Ahmad," he said. "What am I supposed to do if they come for Ahmad, greet them with roses?"
