GAZA CITY, 2 April 2006 — Defying orders from Hamas leader and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to stay off the streets, gunmen from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement fired off guns in a show of force in Gaza yesterday. The gunmen demanded Haniyeh arrest members of a rival group they blamed for deadly clashes in which three people died, violence that has posed a major challenge for Hamas now in charge of the Palestinian government.
About 300 gunmen shot repeatedly into the air as Fatah strongman Samir Al-Mashharawi threatened to take measures if Haniyeh failed to arrest a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a rival group he blamed for Friday’s gunbattle.
“We in Fatah will not allow this person to escape punishment,” Al-Mashharawi said.
Friday’s clashes broke out when members of PRC, a group that often fires rockets at Israel, accused Palestinian security forces close to Abbas of helping Israel kill a top faction member in a car blast.
Israel’s Army denied involvement in the explosion.
Haniyeh said yesterday his government, which beat Abbas’ Fatah in a January election and now controls tens of thousands of security officers, had ordered the gunmen involved in the clashes to leave the streets in a bid to end tension.
“What happened was dangerous and must not be repeated,” Haniyeh told reporters.
“The culture that dominated the Palestinian street in past years is a culture that needs time in order to turn into a culture that keeps law and order and does not resort to using arms under any condition,” he added.
The PRC said it had agreed to follow Haniyeh’s call and Palestinian Preventive Security Chief Rashid Abu Shbak met with the interior minister and said the gunmen had left the streets. “I do not think there are gunmen anymore,” he told reporters. “The incident is over at the moment and I hope there will be no more consequences.”
But the Fatah gunmen appeared on the streets of Gaza City several hours later. They accompanied Al-Mashharawi from the Gaza border with Egypt to his home. Later they dispersed. “We will cooperate to end armed displays and I call on Fatah men not to be dragged into sedition,” Al-Mashharawi said.
The lawlessness followed a general increase in violence. A Palestinian bomber killed four Israelis in the West Bank on Thursday. Israel has carried out repeated strikes on what it said were rocket launch sites in Gaza, while several rockets were fired at the Jewish state.
Hamas has largely avoided involvement in internal Palestinian fighting.
Hamas has largely respected a truce for the past year, but has refused to give up its weapons and renounce violence, as demanded by Israel, the United States and other major powers.
In another development, Israeli artillery bombarded a unilaterally enforced no-go zone in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday after Palestinians launched a number of rockets, an army spokeswoman said.
“Our forces have opened up artillery barrages on the northern Gaza Strip in response to three rockets launched from this sector toward our territory,” she told AFP.
Israeli planes attacked the same sector overnight, she said, adding that no damage had been reported from a rocket attack carried out late Friday. Four more rockets were fired yesterday afternoon without causing any casualties, the army said, while the air force dropped propaganda pamphlets in Arabic on the territory.
A Palestinian security source said that Israeli fighter-bombers had also attacked a Gaza City football stadium overnight, already targeted on Friday, as well as a public park. The reason for the attacks was unknown.
— With input from agencies
