By Xinhua
Ramallah : A number of Palestinian fighters of Fatah in the West Bank city Nablus Tuesday laid down arms and stopped their fighting against Israel, Palestinian security sources said.
They said that those militants affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement will stay at a Nablus prison for three months until Israel grants them amnesty.
Mahdi Abu Ghazala, a spokesman for the group of fighters that gave in, said their surrender was made under Israeli repeated insistence and in order not to be taken as pretext by Israel to thwart the Palestinian National Authority’s (PNA) efforts to restore security in Nablus.
Meanwhile, Abu Ghazala slammed Israel for the latter’s latest invasion of Nablus, urging Israel to retract all pretexts.
The PNA launched a campaign to restore the security in the city after years of anarchy. The deal was approved by Israeli government but the army still continued operations in the West Bank despite the PNA’s effort.
Appreciating the disarming of the group of Fatah fighters, Nablus governor Jamal Muhessin described the move as “a brave step that shows spirit of responsibility towards the new conditions in the West Bank… unlike the dark conditions in Gaza Strip.”