West Bank - HAMAS stages protest

(11 Apr 1998) T/I: 10:50:30 Thousands of supporters of the militant islamic HAMAS movement gathered at a university in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday afternoon (11/4) to denounce Israel, the United States and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The meeting was held in defiance of a ban imposed by the Palestinian police. HAMAS members carried models of the Al Aqsa mosque, burned Israeli and American flags and staged a short play during which an Israel bus was "blown up". Several fathers and orphans of HAMAS suicide bombers were brought onto a stage and cheered, others paraded wearing white shrouds - a sign of readiness for martyrdom. SHOWS: NABLUS, WEST BANK 11/04 HAMAS banner on building; preparations for rally; family members of HAMAS suicide bombers including brothers of bomb-maker Mohieddin Sharif addressing rally; demonstrators carrying portraits of suicide bombers; Pan of rally; effigies symbolising martyrs carried into rally; women watching from window; masked HAMAS activists; supporters waving flags; Israeli flag burned; demonstrators waving flags; flag burned; Model of al Aqsa mosque carried by demonstrators; Israeli flags burned; effigy of bus carried into rally; Israeli flag burns; cu "bus" arrives; Child held on man's shoulders (he is the son of the infamous Palestinian bus bomber dubbed The Engineer, who was killed by a booby-trapped cellular phone); Model of bus burned; 2.38 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...