GAZA, 7 December, 7 December — Palestinian fought Palestinian yesterday as baton-wielding Palestinian police battled stone-throwing protesters and armed supporters of Hamas. President Yasser Arafat put the leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, under house arrest. One of Yassin’s supporters was killed in the clashes, which highlighted Arafat’s difficulties in responding to US and Israeli pressure to rein in activists.
The battles began on Wednesday night and flared again as Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher started a new peace mission by meeting Israeli leaders and US envoy Anthony Zinni held talks with Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Maher also met Arafat in Ramallah late yesterday.
Zinni has arranged a security meeting between the Palestinians and Israel today to try to defuse their knife-edge crisis, Arafat said yesterday.
Meanwhile, fresh Israeli-Palestinian violence flared in the Gaza Strip yesterday in which a Palestinian policeman was killed and another seriously injured when Israeli tanks stormed into Palestinian self-rule land in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. Taj Al-Masri, 23, was shot dead and his body kept by Israeli forces.
Another policeman was in serious condition after being hit by heavy machine-gun fire from the tanks in the legs and stomach.
Israeli military sources confirmed that the army had killed one Palestinian and arrested another. The incursion happened near the town of Beit Lahia, on the northern edge of Gaza City.
Violence flared in Gaza City after police placed Sheikh Yassin under house arrest and thousands of people gathered outside in protest.
Masked Hamas supporters ringed Yassin’s home and fired warning shots when the Palestinian police, using their batons, charged at stone-throwing youths protesting in support of Hamas. "Yassin did not do anything wrong," a young protester said. Hamas threatened to attack officials from Arafat’s Palestinian Authority if the movement’s besieged leader, Sheikh Yassin, or any of its activists are harmed.
Hamas supporter Muhammad Selmi, 21, died after being shot in the back, hospital sources said. Relatives said he was shot by policemen but the police denied this.
US President George W. Bush spoke by telephone yesterday to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the situation in the Middle East, the White House said.
"The United States and Egypt are working closely together to end the violence and stop the terrorism," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
