Last update - 00:00 20/10/2006
Gunmen open fire at Haniyeh's convoy in Gaza
By News Agencies
On Friday, gunmen opened fire at Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's convoy as he left a Gaza mosque, destroying one vehicle in a burst of flames and raising tensions between Haniyeh's Hamas party and the rival Fatah party. There were no injuries in the shooting.
Later Friday, a Fatah official rejected Hamas claims that its gunmen carried out the attack on Haniyeh's convoy.
Hamas officials had said some of the gunmen were relatives of a Fatah member killed in a street battle against Hamas militants earlier this month.
But Abed Awad, a local Fatah official, said the movement "had nothing to do with this shooting incident."
Hamas officials said the attack was not an attempt to assassinate the prime minister.
"The prime minister's condition is good, and he is out of the area of fire," said an official in Haniyeh's office, adding the prime minister's car itself was not attacked.
Haniyeh had just finished making a speech at the mosque, where he said that his movement would reject any moves by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, to call fresh elections or sack the Islamist government as a way to break a political deadlock.
Abbas said this week he was prepared to make critical decisions on the fate of the Palestinian government, indicating he might dismiss the Hamas-led cabinet as a step toward relief from crippling Western aid sanctions. The comments came in the wake of efforts to form a unity cabinet that foundered over Hamas' refusal to soften its stance toward Israel.
Speaking to worshippers, Haniyeh did not explicitly say Hamas would take action to oppose Abbas, but his comments could affect efforts to ease tensions that have sparked internal clashes and stirred fears of civil war.
"All you have here are options that have no aim but to remove Hamas from government. The wheel of history will not go backward," Haniyeh said.
"All these options will not achieve stability and calm and will not represent a way out of the crisis," he said.
The moderate Abbas has not explicitly identified his options but his aides have said he might call fresh elections, appoint an emergency cabinet or hold a referendum to let the Palestinian people decide what to do.
Haniyeh said Abbas had no right under law to call early elections or form an emergency government.
Earlier, officials from Hamas and Abbas' Fatah faction pledged to take steps to end internal violence during overnight talks brokered by neighboring Egypt.
Palestinian sources said Saturday that Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Abbas will meet within the coming days to discuss the possibility of a unity government.
Palestinians had hoped a unity government would lead to a lifting of crippling Western sanctions that were imposed on Hamas when it assumed office in March for refusing to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
Hamas took power after scoring a surprise win over Fatah in parliamentary elections in January.
Israel Defense Forces troops killed a 50-year-old Palestinian man early Saturday during an operation in the southern Gaza Strip.