GAZA, April 1: Fighters from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement fired off guns in a show of force in Gaza on Saturday, defying orders from Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to stay off the streets. The militants said Mr Haniyeh should 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, which is now in charge of the Palestinian government.
About 300 fighters shot repeatedly into the air as Fatah strongman Samir al Mashharawi threatened to take measures if Mr Haniyeh failed to arrest a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, 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 the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a group that often fires rockets at Israel, accused Palestinian security forces close to Mr Abbas of helping Israel kill a top faction member in a car blast.
Israel’s army denied involvement in the explosion.
Mr Haniyeh said on Saturday his government, which beat Mr Abbas’s Fatah in a January election and now controls tens of thousands of security officials, 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,” Mr 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 Mr Haniyeh’s call and Palestinian Preventive Security Chief Rashid Abu Shbak met 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 men 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 suicide 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 local militants fired several rockets at the Jewish state.
Hamas has largely avoided involvement in internal Palestinian fighting.
The group 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. —Reuters
