Last update - 00:00 05/02/2007
Hamas: Israel barred 2 ministers from traveling to Mecca talks
By Reuters and The Associated Press
Israel blocked two West Bank-based Hamas cabinet
ministers from traveling to Amman on Monday, from where they had planned to fly to Hamas-Fatah talks in Mecca, Hamas officials said.
Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer and Planning Minister Samir Abu Eisha have been barred on previous occasions by Israel from leaving the West Bank.
Israeli spokesmen were not immediately available for comment on Monday's incident.
Meanwhile Monday, several abductions and scattered clashes continued in the West Bank and Gaza, despite a fresh truce between Hamas and Fatah.
After nightfall, gunmen in the northern Gaza town
of Beit Hanun stormed the local headquarters of Force 17, which is loyal to Fatah, and abducted six members, residents said.
Fatah officials blamed Hamas for the assault. Hamas declined to say whether it was holding the men but accused Force 17 of setting up a checkpoint in Beit Hanun and trying to detain Hamas members.
Fatah gunmen abducted a Hamas official as he left his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, saying they would exchange him for the kidnapped nephew of senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, Palestinian police said.
While both sides had released some hostages taken during the fighting, officials said before the Force 17 incident that Hamas still held nine Fatah men while 32 members of Hamas remained in Fatah custody.
The streets of Gaza City were again busy Monday, as shops reopened and police cars patrolled the streets to maintain order.
Some Hamas roadblocks remained scattered throughout the Gaza Strip, including outside Shifa Hospital, which is controlled by Hamas, and near the office of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, security officials said. Hamas said Fatah roadblocks also remained.
Brief clashes erupted between the two sides Monday, but no injuries were reported.
Tensions between Hamas and Fatah grew after Hamas won parliamentary elections last year, splitting control of the government with President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. More than 130 people have been killed in the subsequent fighting, and scores have been kidnapped.
On Sunday, gunmen in Gaza kidnapped the nephew of Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, security officials said. Though all those abducted were supposed to be freed under Sunday evening's cease-fire, he was not, security officials said.
In retaliation, Fatah gunmen in Ramallah kidnapped Arafat Said, an Interior Ministry official, as he left his office and shot a man who was walking with him in the legs, security officials said. Both men were Hamas supporters.