GAZA CITY, 24 January 2007 — Violence flared up anew in the Gaza Strip yesterday as Palestinian factions were set to meet in a bid to form a national unity government.
The talks, which have dragged on in vain for months, aim at resolving the long-running feud between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and the ruling Islamist movement Hamas.
Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters seized a French diplomat and his two bodyguards yesterday in the West Bank city of Nablus, and released them two hours later to another French envoy, witnesses said. A spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said weapons carried by the bodyguards had initially raised suspicions the men were undercover Israeli soldiers.
In a related development, hundreds of Palestinian journalists protested yesterday against the bombing of the Gaza office of Al-Arabiya television.
“We hold the government responsible for what happened,” said Reham Abdel-Karim, Gaza director of the Dubai-based satellite channel.
