Last update - 00:00 25/05/2007
Fatah man killed in clashes with PA policemen in West Bank
By Avi Isaacharoff Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
A militant from the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades was killed Saturday afternoon in an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian policemen in the town of Tubas, located between Nablus and Jenin.
According to the witnesses, a security force arrived in Tubas at the home of Raed Abdul Razek, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah movement, to arrest him on criminal charges.
The gunman and others with him opened fire at the security force, who returned fire fatally wounding Abdul Razek. Five other gunmen were also injured in the attack.
Family members of Abdul Razek and other gunmen from Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades later stormed a Palestinian National Security post setting cars on fire and shooting at members of the force inside.
Hospital reports said at least seven members of the security force were injured, some critical.
A reinforcement of police came to the town before the situation was brought under control.
Egypt to host Palestinian groups for talks on factional violence
Egypt will host talks in the coming days with Palestinian politicians in a bid to ease factional tensions that erupted in violence this month in Gaza, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said on Friday.
Egyptian leaders intend to hold preparatory bilateral talks with each faction separately ahead of a planned meeting that should bring together Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, The Democratic Front and The National Front.
Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmad, a close aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement, told Reuters that he and another Fatah leader, Rawhi Fattouh, would travel to Cairo on Saturday to meet Egyptian officials.
"The aim of the meeting is to cement the cease-fire, to make sure that there will be no return to internal fighting," Ahmad said, adding that the Fatah representatives would also discuss ways of negotiating a comprehensive cease-fire with Israel.
An official close to arrangements for the talks said Egypt was also inviting leaders of Fatah's main rival, the Hamas Islamist group, for similar talks later, in the hope of finding common ground between the two movements. Fighting between them in Gaza has killed about 50 people this month.
A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said he was aware of the Egyptian move. Hamas was waiting for its own formal invitation to Cairo and would welcome one if it came, he added.
"As far as we know, Egypt has invited leaders from Fatah for talks in Cairo. We have not had an official invitation yet but we would welcome any invitation from Cairo," Barhoum said.
"We would respond to any invitation by Cairo and to any Arab effort to support Palestinian rights and to establish a constructive Palestinian internal dialogue and defuse tensions."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, at a news conference in Cairo, gave no detail on plans for the talks and indicated Egypt's frustrations with efforts to play a mediating role in the Gaza Strip, which borders its own territory.
"When Egypt sends out invitations for talks between Fatah and Hamas, it must be sure that they will carry out what they agree to and remain committed to it," Egypt's MENA news agency said in its report of the foreign minister's remarks.
"The climate must be right for such a meeting for it to achieve its aim ... Egypt does not favor inviting people to meetings and then a few weeks later having fighting take place that is more intense than before."
Egypt hosted a meeting a month ago between Abbas and Hamas' Damascus-based leader Khaled Meshal, whose groups formed a national unity government in March to try to ease friction. Yet two weeks ago, serious fighting again broke out between them in Gaza.
A relative calm has held between them for the past few days but Israel has continued pounding Hamas positions from the air in response to rocket attacks by the militant group on Israel. Previous cease-fire deals have rarely lasted long.
Abbas is tentatively scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in June, and on Thursday called on Hamas to stop firing rockets, saying they were an obstacle to negotiating a broader ceasefire with Israel. Hamas officials rejected that call. Several more rockets have since fallen inside Israel.