Palestinian factions fought on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank on Friday as the territories slid further into violence and political confrontation.
In Gaza City the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, appeared before a rally of tens of thousands of Hamas supporters, while in Ramallah at least 30 people were hurt, many seriously, in clashes between Hamas and Fatah gunmen.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to visit the Middle East shortly to promote an ”arc of moderation” in the region and a return to peace talks. On a visit three months ago Blair tried to encourage the creation of a national unity government and raised the prospect of talks between the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian president and Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
Since then, the unity talks have broken down and there has been no meeting between Olmert and Abbas.
The Palestinian factions traded accusations on Friday over violence in Gaza this week. Hamas accused a senior Fatah figure, Mohammad Dahlan, of trying to assassinate Haniyeh in a gun battle at the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border on Thursday.
The border was closed by Israel to stop Haniyeh bringing in $35-million in donations from Islamic countries, and then the crossing was stormed by Hamas gunmen. Late at night Haniyeh crossed without the money, but ran straight into a gun battle that left a bodyguard dead and his son injured.
”We are here to be martyrs, not ministers,” Haniyeh told the crowd at the Yarmouk football stadium in Gaza on Friday. He pointedly made no call for calm.
Khalil Hayah, head of the Hamas bloc in Parliament, repeated that the movement will not recognise Israel — one of the demands that Israel and the West have made of the Hamas government — before it ends a financial boycott. ”We will not recognise Israel and we will not join any government that does recognise Israel,” Hayah told the crowd.
Abbas is due to give a speech in Ramallah on Saturday at which some think he may raise the prospect of an election early next year. But it is not clear that he has the legal power to do that, nor is it certain that Fatah has regained enough support to win a vote 11 months after its surprise defeat.
There is anger in Fatah. ”What is happening here looks like civil war,” said Ala’a Yaghi, a Fatah MP. ”We see every day killing, kidnapping and shooting … Hamas has the money and the authority and the rest of the Palestinian people have nothing. How can we change this?”
Olmert says he regards Abbas as someone he could talk to, but Fatah is struggling on the ground. Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian planning minister and now a political analyst, said Hamas is emerging strongest from the crisis. ”Hamas doesn’t have any motive to go for a national unity government that involves concessions,” he said.
Haniyeh’s trip abroad, during which he secured promises of about $350-million in funding from Iran, Qatar and Sudan, was seen by many Palestinians as an endorsement of his rule. ”That was a message for people here that he received legitimacy in the Arab world,” said Khatib.
Despite the donations, Hamas remains far short of the approximately $600-million Israel has kept from the Palestinian Authority in tax revenues. But the economic crisis does not seem to have dampened Hamas’s support. Khatib said his polling research suggests Hamas would keep its majority if elections were called now. — Guardian Unlimited Â