Gunmen break up concert by Palestinian rock singer

JERUSALEM - A concert by a top Palestinian rock singer was broken up when masked gunmen from militant factions surrounded its venue in the West Bank city of Nablus and started shooting into the air.

Apparently fearing for his safety, security guards hustled the singer, Ammar Hassan, off the stage at the city's al Najar University when the concert ended in uproar after what one witness said last night was only 20 minutes of actual singing. He had earlier been forced to start 45 minutes late by chanting, tyre-burning protesters.
Ammar Hassan shot to popularity throughout the Arab world when he came second in the "Superstar 2" competition broadcast on the Lebanese TV channel al-Mustaqbal.

One person at the concert on Tuesday night, cameraman Ala Badarnes, said that armed militants had visited Mr Hassan's hotel near the university campus and warned him that he should sing nationalist songs if the concert was to go ahead.

Mr Hassan sought to appease his critics from Hamas and the Fatah-linked al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades by opening the show with a song about "Holy Jerusalem".

But although other songs had obliquely political references he sang at least one popular love song.

Mr Hassan has recently had two successful concerts in Ramallah and one in Bethlehem but in Qalqilya, where the city council has been under the control of Hamas since the last local elections, the municipality refused to allow the concert to go ahead.

Qassem Ewais, 21, one of over 1500 concert goers who paid 30 shekels ($10) for tickets told Associated Press: "I am depressed. I came to dance and sing and suddenly gunmen surrounded the university."

Mr Ewais, who made the arduous journey from Qalqilya round Israeli Army roadblocks said of the militants: "These people are criminals. They are liars."

As around 20 self-proclaimed Hamas members held posters reading "Don't dance on our blood," one masked gunman who refused to be named said: "We lost a lot of martyrs and lost a lot of friends, and this is not appropriate for Nablus."

Meanwhile, a high-level delegation of Israeli officials is to leave for Washington tonight to seek multi-million dollar funding for defence and development needs within Israel after it pulls out from Gaza.

Some of the funds Israel wants will be earmarked for development in the Negev and Galilee where some of the 8500 Jewish settlers are expected to go.

- INDEPENDENT