Last update - 00:00 09/09/2007
PLO calls general strike in Gaza after Fatah-Hamas clashes
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Fatah and the other factions belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization have called a general strike in the Gaza Strip Sunday, in the wake of fighting with Hamas security forces on Friday.
Wielding clubs, Hamas men beat protesters, hurled stun grenades and fired into the air to disperse open-air prayer meetings held by Fatah in defiance of a Hamas ban on such gatherings. Medical officials said 20 people, some with gunshot wounds, were treated in hospital.
"What we saw in Gaza today was the beginning of a third intifada, against the Hamas occupation," Palestinian Authority Information Minister Riad Maliki told a news conference Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We bless this uprising."
Speaking at a spot in Gaza City where Fatah members gathered for weekly worship, Yusef al-Zahar,a Hamas security officer, told reporters the movement was "trying to prevent people from using prayers to incite chaos and sabotage public property".
The showdown Friday began even before the prayer services were held at central outdoor locations. Hamas men set up checkpoints Friday morning throughout the Gaza Strip, to prevent Fatah supporters from reaching the prayer sites.
In addition, the Hamas Executive Force arrested three Fatah leaders, including Zakaria al-Agha, a member of the PLO Executive Committee. The three men were released later in the day, said a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
Hamas also detained temporarily three Palestinian reporters who were covering the clashes - two working for Japanese television and one who is a photographer for the Associated Press - and roughed up five other reporters, witnesses said.
Demonstrations against Hamas were also held throughout the West Bank. The largest of these, held in the courtyard of the Muqata, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters in Ramallah, called on Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip to refrain from clashing with Hamas to avoid bloodshed