JENIN, West Bank // A Palestinian politician was shot twice in the leg as he returned to his home early yesterday, the latest attack in a wave of violence in Jenin, a town once seen as a Palestinian model of law and order.
Shami Al Shami said eight bullets were fired at him as he got out of his car at about 1.30am. He said he ran for cover and then noticed he had been hit twice in the right thigh.
Mr Al Shami, a member of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, said he did not know the assailants or why he was targeted.
The attack may have been linked to a growing crackdown by Mr Abbas's forces on armed gangs in Jenin. It was the scene of some of the worst violence during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s but in recent years, Mr Abbas's security forces have made great inroads in restoring law and order.
That period of calm, however, has been tested since the Israeli Arab actor Juliano Mer Khamis, who founded a community theatre in town, was gunned down in April last year.
In May this year, gunmen shot at the home of the area's governor, Kadoura Mousa. He was not injured but suffered a fatal heart attack several hours later. The new governor, Talal Dweikat, said yesterday's shooting was an attempt to undermine the work of the security forces.
