Hamas says Abbas seeks war as fighting erupts
GAZA, Dec 15 (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces fired on a Hamas rally in the West Bank and gunbattles between the two Palestinian factions erupted in Gaza on Friday, prompting a top Hamas leader to accuse Abbas of starting a war.
Tensions reached their highest in a decade, fuelling fears the Palestinians were on the verge of civil war after months of failed talks to form a unity government between the ruling Hamas Islamist faction and Abbas's once-dominant Fatah.
"What a war, Mahmoud Abbas, you are launching, first against God, and then against Hamas," Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Hamas faction in parliament, told 100,000 supporters at a rally in Gaza City.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas urged "national unity" in a speech to the crowd, but stopped short of explicitly calling for calm as he has during previous surges in internal fighting.
At least 32 Hamas supporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah were wounded by gunfire from Abbas's forces, hospital officials said. Several were in critical condition after the fiercest fighting in the occupied West Bank since Hamas came to power in March after trouncing Fatah in elections.
The violence broke out after Hamas, which controls the Palestinian Authority, accused a Fatah strongman and Abbas's presidential guard of trying to kill Haniyeh outside the Rafah border crossing with Egypt late on Thursday.
Although Israel was not involved in the latest fighting, its decision, with U.S. backing, to prevent Haniyeh entering Gaza with $35 million in cash intensified the standoff in which Haniyeh's convoy came under fire.
Israel, the United States and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and cut off direct aid to the Palestinian government after the group rejected demands to recognise the Jewish state and renounce violence.
"We know who opened fire (on Haniyeh's convoy) and they will be punished hard. From now on they will never relax and they will never sleep tight in their homes," said Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas.
Fatah accused Hamas of ramping up tension. "It is pouring oil on the fire," said Abdel-Hakim Awad, a spokesman for Fatah in Gaza.
One of Haniyeh's bodyguards was killed in the incident at Rafah. Another bodyguard, the prime minister's son and a political adviser were wounded.
HARSHEST PERSONAL ATTACK
Speaking at Gaza's packed sports stadium, Hayya said Hamas would not agree to holding an early election or a referendum on the issue, a move Abbas could announce in a speech planned for Saturday in an attempt to break the political deadlock.
To cheers from the crowd, which fired automatic weapons in the air, Hayya delivered Hamas's harshest personal attack yet on Abbas. He did not say what steps Hamas would take if Abbas sought to call new elections.
Outside Ramallah's main mosque, Hamas supporters taunted Abbas's security forces. "You look like Israeli soldiers. You are spies," they shouted.
Dressed in riot gear, the Fatah-dominated forces used clubs and rifle-butts to beat back the Hamas demonstrators before shooting broke out. The mosque was damaged.
As the fighting broke out in the West Bank, Hamas and Fatah forces in Gaza started exchanging fire on the streets.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Rudwan accused Fatah strongman and lawmaker Mohammed Dahlan of being behind the attack on Haniyeh's convoy.
Dahlan rejected the allegation, telling Reuters it was part of a Hamas "cover up" after unidentified militants earlier this week shot dead three young sons of an intelligence official loyal to Abbas outside their school.
"Hamas has failed to demonstrate it has a plan to build but has clearly demonstrated it has a plan to destroy," Dahlan said.
Haniyeh has condemned the killing of the young boys.
Tensions reached their highest in a decade, fuelling fears the Palestinians were on the verge of civil war after months of failed talks to form a unity government between the ruling Hamas Islamist faction and Abbas's once-dominant Fatah.
"What a war, Mahmoud Abbas, you are launching, first against God, and then against Hamas," Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Hamas faction in parliament, told 100,000 supporters at a rally in Gaza City.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas urged "national unity" in a speech to the crowd, but stopped short of explicitly calling for calm as he has during previous surges in internal fighting.
At least 32 Hamas supporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah were wounded by gunfire from Abbas's forces, hospital officials said. Several were in critical condition after the fiercest fighting in the occupied West Bank since Hamas came to power in March after trouncing Fatah in elections.
The violence broke out after Hamas, which controls the Palestinian Authority, accused a Fatah strongman and Abbas's presidential guard of trying to kill Haniyeh outside the Rafah border crossing with Egypt late on Thursday.
Although Israel was not involved in the latest fighting, its decision, with U.S. backing, to prevent Haniyeh entering Gaza with $35 million in cash intensified the standoff in which Haniyeh's convoy came under fire.
Israel, the United States and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and cut off direct aid to the Palestinian government after the group rejected demands to recognise the Jewish state and renounce violence.
"We know who opened fire (on Haniyeh's convoy) and they will be punished hard. From now on they will never relax and they will never sleep tight in their homes," said Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas.
Fatah accused Hamas of ramping up tension. "It is pouring oil on the fire," said Abdel-Hakim Awad, a spokesman for Fatah in Gaza.
One of Haniyeh's bodyguards was killed in the incident at Rafah. Another bodyguard, the prime minister's son and a political adviser were wounded.
HARSHEST PERSONAL ATTACK
Speaking at Gaza's packed sports stadium, Hayya said Hamas would not agree to holding an early election or a referendum on the issue, a move Abbas could announce in a speech planned for Saturday in an attempt to break the political deadlock.
To cheers from the crowd, which fired automatic weapons in the air, Hayya delivered Hamas's harshest personal attack yet on Abbas. He did not say what steps Hamas would take if Abbas sought to call new elections.
Outside Ramallah's main mosque, Hamas supporters taunted Abbas's security forces. "You look like Israeli soldiers. You are spies," they shouted.
Dressed in riot gear, the Fatah-dominated forces used clubs and rifle-butts to beat back the Hamas demonstrators before shooting broke out. The mosque was damaged.
As the fighting broke out in the West Bank, Hamas and Fatah forces in Gaza started exchanging fire on the streets.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Rudwan accused Fatah strongman and lawmaker Mohammed Dahlan of being behind the attack on Haniyeh's convoy.
Dahlan rejected the allegation, telling Reuters it was part of a Hamas "cover up" after unidentified militants earlier this week shot dead three young sons of an intelligence official loyal to Abbas outside their school.
"Hamas has failed to demonstrate it has a plan to build but has clearly demonstrated it has a plan to destroy," Dahlan said.
Haniyeh has condemned the killing of the young boys.
posted by Marko at 12/15/2006 10:54:00 AM
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