Nablus turning into mini-Gaza

Ma'an, during a report on a murder in Nablus today, lazily mentions an interesting fact: Unidentified gunmen killed on Thursday Rami Sirreis, 32, in Ein Beit Al Ma refugee camp in west Nablus city, in the northern West Bank. Local sources in the refugee camp told our correspondent that Sirreis was a construction worker, and he was killed as traveling home after visiting his sister. A number of masked gunmen obstructed his way and opened fire at him. He received several gunshots in the chest and legs and died after being transferred to Rafidia hospital in Nablus. The sources stated that Sirreis was not affiliated to any political party, yet he was considered a Fatah loyalist, according to Fatah sources in Al-Ein refugee camp. The killing of Sirreis was the 10th murder in Nablus over the past 10 days. This is most interesting. I read Ma'an a few times a day, both English and autotranslated Arabic, and I only saw 5 murders in the West Bank over this time period - Ma'an seems to be self-censoring intrafada murders. And the rate of one murder a day in Nablus alone pretty much mirrors the death rate in all of Gaza before the latest mini-war erupted. Nablus, as I have mentioned, is very strongly pro-Hamas - and it also happens to be one of the largest cities in the West Bank. The civil war has not ended, but since the media declared things "calm" as well as that the West Bank is solidly Fatah territory, no one seems to want to admit that they were wrong. The 2007 PalArab self-death count has now reached 467.