Six said dead as Hamas, Fatah clash at rally

Gunfire killed at least six people on Monday at a Fatah rally attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters. Fatah is the defeated Palestinian faction in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Six said dead as Hamas, Fatah clash at rally The rally was Fatah's biggest show of strength since Hamas overran Gaza in June, expelling the security forces of Fatah's leader, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Fatah accused Hamas security men of opening fire at the memorial ceremony for Yasser Arafat, a day after the third anniversary of the death of the iconic Palestinian leader. Hamas said its forces had responded to fire from Fatah gunmen. The moderate Abbas has been harnessing Arafat commemorations, stretched out over three days, to build up support for relaunching peace talks with Israel at a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference later this month. Hamas, which opposes a peace deal with Israel, says Abbas does not have a mandate to negotiate, and some in the Islamic militant movement have denounced him as a traitor. However, Hamas has also tried to co-opt former rival Arafat since his Nov. 11, 2004 death, by portraying him as closer to its hardline ideology. "We honor and respect Yasser Arafat because he ... refused to give up the rights of our people in this holy land," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Monday. It was not clear whether Hamas would try to disrupt Monday's rally. On Sunday, Hamas seized a West Bank shipment of thousands of Fatah posters, scarves and baseball caps after it reached Gaza, Fatah officials said. Hamas radio said Monday the items were returned to Fatah. Large numbers of Hamas police, some in riot gear, took up positions Monday at key intersections, outside government ministries and near parliament. Fatah activists were decorating streets with yellow Fatah flags and Arafat posters. Hamas police didn't intervene, but wrote down license plates of some cars flying Fatah flags. Hazem Abu Shanab, a Fatah spokesman, said activists were told to avoid confrontations with Hamas forces. He said armed men would not be allowed to take part. A prelude to the Gaza City rally came late Sunday in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where about 10,000 Fatah supporters marched. In clashes with Hamas police after the march, two people were wounded, residents said. On Sunday, Abbas addressed a crowd of tens of thousands of Palestinians at the refurbished gravesite of Arafat next to the president's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Speaking under a giant mural of a smiling Arafat, Abbas repeatedly invoked Arafat's memory to bolster his own leadership. "Our strategic decision is peace," said Abbas, echoing one of Arafat's favorite slogans. Abbas has been meeting regularly with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, later this month. The conference is expected to kick off Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which broke down in violence seven years ago. "The upcoming conference," Abbas said, "is a historic opportunity to make a new page in the history of the Middle East." A new hitch developed Sunday when chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said his delegation, on its way to meet Israel's foreign minister about a pre-Annapolis document, was held up at an Israeli border police roadblock for 25 minutes. An angry Qureia said he and the other negotiators returned home because of the humiliation. "We will propose never to conduct negotiations in Israel again," he said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel regretted the incident and pledged it would be investigated. He said Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni talked to Qureia, and he hoped their meeting could be rescheduled as soon as possible. "Important work needs to be done, gaps must be narrowed," Regev said. Briefing ministers at Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting, military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin warned that Hamas could try to foil the forthcoming conference, an official who attended the closed-door meeting said. He said he saw Hamas stepping up its efforts to carry out acts of terrorism if Annapolis looks like being a success, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to civil service rules. A poll released Sunday by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center showed that 68 percent of Palestinians favor peace negotiations with Israel, but 62 percent predict failure for the Annapolis gathering. The poll questioned 1,200 people and quoted a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad vowed Sunday to hunt down outlaws in the restive West Bank city of Nablus as part of a Western-backed push to revive peacemaking with Israel. Fayad, appointed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas after rival Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip in June, said security forces had made arrests in the city, a frequent flashpoint between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants. "We have begun arresting symbols of chaos, known to the people of Nablus, and the arrests will continue until we get the last one of them," Fayad told reporters in Ramallah. Abbas dismissed a Hamas-led government after the Islamist group took over Gaza in a brief civil war and appointed Fayad to lead an administration in the West Bank where his Fatah party remains dominant. Violence in Gaza (Beta/AP)

Six said dead as Hamas, Fatah clash at rally

The rally was Fatah's biggest show of strength since Hamas overran Gaza in June, expelling the security forces of Fatah's leader, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Fatah accused Hamas security men of opening fire at the memorial ceremony for Yasser Arafat, a day after the third anniversary of the death of the iconic Palestinian leader. Hamas said its forces had responded to fire from Fatah gunmen.

The moderate Abbas has been harnessing Arafat commemorations, stretched out over three days, to build up support for relaunching peace talks with Israel at a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference later this month.

Hamas, which opposes a peace deal with Israel, says Abbas does not have a mandate to negotiate, and some in the Islamic militant movement have denounced him as a traitor.

However, Hamas has also tried to co-opt former rival Arafat since his Nov. 11, 2004 death, by portraying him as closer to its hardline ideology.

"We honor and respect Yasser Arafat because he ... refused to give up the rights of our people in this holy land," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Monday.

It was not clear whether Hamas would try to disrupt Monday's rally.

On Sunday, Hamas seized a West Bank shipment of thousands of Fatah posters, scarves and baseball caps after it reached Gaza, Fatah officials said. Hamas radio said Monday the items were returned to Fatah.

Large numbers of Hamas police, some in riot gear, took up positions Monday at key intersections, outside government ministries and near parliament. Fatah activists were decorating streets with yellow Fatah flags and Arafat posters. Hamas police didn't intervene, but wrote down license plates of some cars flying Fatah flags.

Hazem Abu Shanab, a Fatah spokesman, said activists were told to avoid confrontations with Hamas forces. He said armed men would not be allowed to take part.

A prelude to the Gaza City rally came late Sunday in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where about 10,000 Fatah supporters marched. In clashes with Hamas police after the march, two people were wounded, residents said.

On Sunday, Abbas addressed a crowd of tens of thousands of Palestinians at the refurbished gravesite of Arafat next to the president's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Speaking under a giant mural of a smiling Arafat, Abbas repeatedly invoked Arafat's memory to bolster his own leadership. "Our strategic decision is peace," said Abbas, echoing one of Arafat's favorite slogans.

Abbas has been meeting regularly with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, later this month. The conference is expected to kick off Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which broke down in violence seven years ago.

"The upcoming conference," Abbas said, "is a historic opportunity to make a new page in the history of the Middle East."

A new hitch developed Sunday when chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said his delegation, on its way to meet Israel's foreign minister about a pre-Annapolis document, was held up at an Israeli border police roadblock for 25 minutes.

An angry Qureia said he and the other negotiators returned home because of the humiliation. "We will propose never to conduct negotiations in Israel again," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel regretted the incident and pledged it would be investigated. He said Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni talked to Qureia, and he hoped their meeting could be rescheduled as soon as possible. "Important work needs to be done, gaps must be narrowed," Regev said.

Briefing ministers at Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting, military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin warned that Hamas could try to foil the forthcoming conference, an official who attended the closed-door meeting said.

He said he saw Hamas stepping up its efforts to carry out acts of terrorism if Annapolis looks like being a success, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to civil service rules.

A poll released Sunday by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center showed that 68 percent of Palestinians favor peace negotiations with Israel, but 62 percent predict failure for the Annapolis gathering. The poll questioned 1,200 people and quoted a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad vowed Sunday to hunt down outlaws in the restive West Bank city of Nablus as part of a Western-backed push to revive peacemaking with Israel.

Fayad, appointed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas after rival Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip in June, said security forces had made arrests in the city, a frequent flashpoint between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants.

"We have begun arresting symbols of chaos, known to the people of Nablus, and the arrests will continue until we get the last one of them," Fayad told reporters in Ramallah.

Abbas dismissed a Hamas-led government after the Islamist group took over Gaza in a brief civil war and appointed Fayad to lead an administration in the West Bank where his Fatah party remains dominant.