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Hamas gunmen shoot at homes of security chief, Fatah chief
 GAZA CITY - Hamas gunmen on Wednesday attacked the homes of the head of the Palestinian security services and the leader in Gaza of the governing Fatah faction, just hours after a deal to end factional fighting. | This must have just been your average everyday fighting then |
At least seven people were injured in the exchanges of fire with bodyguards after the attacks on the home of preventive security chief Rashid Abu Shbak and the head of Fatah in Gaza, Abdallah Franji, security and Hamas sources said. While the security sources accused members of Hamasâs armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, of initiating the latest violence, Hamas said the shooting had been started by the security services. | "Wasn't us, we're the peaceful armed wing" |
Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said members of the preventive security services had opened fire on a car containing members of Hamas as they drove past Abu Shbakâs house and that one of Franjiâs bodyguards also shot at a Hamas vehicle. | I'm thinking shooting up Hamas sounds like a good preventive measure to me. |
Abu Zuhri said four members of Hamas were wounded in the exchanges, while hospital sources confirmed that three members of the security services had also been injured. | We can always pray for septis |
Both attacks happened around dawn in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, in southern Gaza City. | Dawn in beautiful Gaza, the sun glinting off the wrecked cars, smoke wafting on the ocean breeze, the crackle of gunfire, the screams from the trauma center... |
Several hours earlier, Fatah and Hamas officials announced they had reached an agreement to end factional violence. Further talks between the factions were expected to take place later in the day in Gaza City to consolidate the truce, sources on both sides said.
At least 22 people were wounded on Tuesday during clashes in the northern Gaza Strip between Hamas and members of either the security services or Fatah. Those clashes had been confined to the Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya areas, which lie to the east of Gaza City. There were no reports of fresh fighting in either area early Wednesday. Abu Zuhri said that despite the fresh clashes in Gaza City, all sides were keen to draw a line under the violence. âThere is a desire among our movement and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority to put an end to this issue and to implement this âquietâ on the ground,â he told AFP. | "Then we can get back to killin' joooos" |
Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday to call for national unity and an end to the security chaos in the occupied territories.
The long-running rivalry between Fatah and Hamas has been stoked recently by the radical Islamist movementâs refusal to accept an offer to join a national unity government. The head of Hamas in its Gaza stronghold, Mahmud Zahar, said in a recent interview that there had been a permanent breakdown of trust between his organisation and the Palestinian Authority. The infighting has emphasised the collapse of the rule of law in the occupied territories which Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Ahmed Qorei have repeatedly pledged to tackle.
Posted by: Steve 2005-07-20 |
