Matriculating in Terror

Saturday Fatah gunmen took to the streets of the West Bank city of Nablus forcing teachers to call off exams reports the Jerusalem Post.

Abbas decided last week that all students must report to public exam halls throughout the West Bank, drawing sharp criticism from hundreds of gunmen belonging to the Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Until now, all Fatah gunmen were granted special treatment by the PA Ministry of Education when sitting for the tawjihi. In addition to allocating secret halls for them, the ministry also permitted the gunmen to enter the halls with their weapons - a move that was seen as a direct threat to the lives of the teachers.

In the context of his efforts to end lawlessness and anarchy in the West Bank, Abbas last week instructed PA Education Minister Lamis Alami to cancel the practice of allocating special halls to the fugitives. Enraged by the decision, some 100 Fatah gunmen went on a rampage in a number of schools in Nablus, forcing the ministry to call off the exams. Firing warning shots into the air, the gunmen ordered hundreds of students to leave four halls where the exams were being held.

One of the gunmen read a statement through a megaphone in which he announced that his group had decided to close the halls until further notice because of Abbas's decision. "This decision was taken by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades and all armed factions in Nablus," the masked gunman said. "We will not allow the exams to be held until President Abbas accepts our demand to have our own halls. We can't go to public halls together with hundreds of students because we are wanted by the Israelis."

Sahar Akoubeh, a senior official in the PA Ministry of Education, confirmed that the gunmen had closed down the exam halls. She pointed out that some 250 students from the Nablus area were registered as gunmen who are wanted by Israel and that they were demanding special treatment under the pretext that their lives were at stake.

One of the students who was forced to leave in the middle of the exam told The Jerusalem Post that PA policemen at the scene refused to interfere to stop the gunmen from closing the halls. "The policemen told us that they have orders not to anger the Fatah gunmen," he said. "What kind of a government is this? If they can't impose order, they must go."

I shudder to think of what happens to any teacher who failed one of these Fatah gunmen. I suppose it is just not done.