Rival Palestinian factions clashed across the Gaza Strip, killing six people, as thousands of Hamas supporters marched on Friday to mark the Islamist group’s election victory over Fatah opponents last year.
The escalating violence forced the postponement of talks to form a coalition government, which could ease a United States-led boycott imposed after Hamas won Palestinian elections last January.
”The entire dialogue could explode,” Fatah spokesperson Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said, blaming Hamas for the tension. ”How can dialogue go on when there is a bomb underneath the table?”
The talks, due to resume on Friday, were pushed back to Sunday.
Three Hamas supporters, a militant from the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and two bystanders were killed in violence that began with a bombing on Thursday night and continued with a spate of shootings on Friday.
In Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas gunmen besieged the house of a senior Fatah activist they blamed for shooting a Hamas supporter earlier on Friday.
Militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank city of Nablus said they seized a number of Hamas supporters and threatened to kill them if the Hamas gunmen in Gaza did not lift their siege. A Fatah source said the group was also threatening action against nine Hamas detainees in Gaza.
Local residents said women and civilians were trying to break the siege of Mansour Shalayel’s house, throwing stones against the Hamas forces who responded with stun grenades.
More than 30 Palestinians have been killed in fighting between rival groups since President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called last month for presidential and parliamentary elections after a previous round of unity talks broke down.
Hamas has said any snap poll would amount to a coup.
Hamas anniversary
Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal pledged on Sunday to curb Palestinian bloodshed after inconclusive talks to form a unity government aimed at lifting the boycott imposed because of Hamas’s refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals.
Hamas, which has struggled to govern since taking office in March under the weight of the sanctions, was holding a rally in Gaza to mark a year since its January 25 2006 victory over Fatah.
”I can say that the parties which imposed the siege throughout the past year were unable to achieve their goals,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a leading Hamas figure, told reporters after Friday prayers at a Gaza mosque.
Senior Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri, speaking at the rally in Jabalya, said Hamas would stand firm against all opponents.
”I tell the Zionists, the Americans and leaders of the coup: save yourselves, save your time and your effort because we are staying in our positions, in the government and the Parliament, like the mountains of Palestine are staying in their place.”
Hamas leaders have offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, although the Islamist group’s charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Hamas continues to say that it will not formally recognise Israel.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Abbas said it should take no more than three weeks to reach agreement with Hamas on the unity government, but reiterated he would call for elections if the talks fail. — Reuters