RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY, 17 June 2007 — It was the turn of Fatah fighters yesterday to take on Hamas in the West Bank in retaliation for their humiliating rout in Gaza a day earlier. They raided Hamas-linked institutions in the West Bank and roughed up the deputy speaker of Parliament who is supported by Hamas.

Fatah, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, was in no mood for talks. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is also headed by the president, rejected an offer for dialogue with Hamas, accusing the group of “massacres.” PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo issued a blunt rejection of the olive branch offered by Hamas’ exiled political chief, Khaled Meshaal, after Hamas’ bloody seizure of the Gaza Strip.

“I tell Meshaal that there cannot be dialogue with those who commit massacres in Gaza,” he said.

Abed Rabbo said the PLO had also rejected an Arab League decision to dispatch a commission to investigate Hamas’ seizure of power in Gaza. “We reject the Arab inquiry commission. This is a flagrant intervention in our affairs,” he said.

Abbas plans to swear in an emergency government today that will bring an end to a US-led aid embargo. Prime Minister-designate Salam Fayyad has selected 14 ministers to serve in his Cabinet, officials said. Hamas says the Cabinet’s appointment amounts to a coup.

“I think... there won’t be any obstacles, economically and politically, in terms of re-engaging with this (Abbas-appointed) government. Yes, they will have full support,” US Consul-General Jacob Walles told Reuters news agency in an interview.

Walles said Washington and its partners in the Quartet of Middle East mediators — the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — will make announcements next week about lifting the economic sanctions that have been in place since Hamas came to power in March 2006.

Walles said the Bush administration wanted to start providing “significant” financial assistance to the Palestinians, both for economic development and for Abbas’ security forces.

Hundreds of Fatah gunmen stormed Hamas-controlled institutions in the West Bank. In Gaza, Hamas forces blew up the home of a prominent pro-Fatah family and Gazans looted the house of Yasser Arafat. Hundreds of Gaza residents converged on the border crossing with Israel, desperate to leave the strip, but found the gates locked.

In Ramallah, hundreds of Fatah gunmen took over the Palestinian Parliament and other Hamas-controlled government offices, telling staffers that those with ties to Hamas will not be allowed to return.

At the Parliament, several hundred Fatah supporters chanted, “Hamas Out,” while gunmen climbed on the roof of the building and fired in the air. They planted Fatah and Palestinian flags on the building. They also whisked Deputy Speaker Hassan Khreisheh, a Hamas ally, out of the building, but were prevented from pushing him into a car.

Despite Hamas’ pledges of calm, looting persisted at key Fatah symbols in Gaza, including the home of Arafat.

— Additional input from agencies