Abbas: Unity government still possible despite election call
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that he would not rule out new unity government talks with Hamas despite more than a week of factional violence between his Fatah party and the Islamic militant group.
Abbas has called for new elections - a year after Hamas won parliamentary elections - saying it was the only way to break the political deadlock in the Palestinian government. Hamas opposes new elections.
Speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, Abbas left the door open to new coalition talks, though he did not back away from his election threat.
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"We have no objection to more talks," he said.
Early Wednesday factional violence continued as two Palestinians were killed and six others wounded in battles between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza City, just hours after the feuding factions agreed to a second truce to a week of violence that ahs left 14 dead.
Hamas policemen and forces loyal to Abbas withdrew from Gaza's streets Wednesday. Forces from the two sides began leaving parts of Gaza City at 11 P.M. Tuesday, security sources and witnesses said.
The two slain men were identified as members of the Palestinian Preventative Security Forces, allied to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction.
Fatah spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said the policeman, cousins in their early 20s, were killed when their vehicle was attacked during an overnight patrol. Six other people in their car were wounded, he said.
"They came under fire from an ambush of masked gunmen affiliated with Hamas," Abu Khoussa said. He said Fatah considered the shooting a violation of the cease-fire, but would still honor the truce.
About 300 people attended a funeral for the dead officers Wednesday. Many of the men were armed, shooting in the air and calling for revenge.
At one point, the funeral procession passed by the house of Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas official, and mourners shouted epithets. Zahar apparently was not in the area at the time.
The funeral procession crowd later went on a rampage near the cemetery where the bodies were buried, torching several cars believed to belong to Hamas.
Four cars were riddled with gunfire and badly charred, and smoke covered the windows of a nearby building belonging to the local electric company. The destroyed vehicles turned out to be cars belonging to the company.
Two TV cameramen filming the incident were roughed up by protesters, who also confiscated their videotapes and smashed them.
Gaza residents reported gunfire between rival fighters minutes after the truce, which was brokered by Egyptian mediators, went into effect Tuesday night.
A previous truce between the ruling Hamas faction and once-dominant Fatah, signed Sunday, broke down within 24 hours.
"We bless and support this agreement," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah during his confirmation of the second truce late Tuesday. "We hope all will abide by this agreement."
Hamas and Fatah security chiefs earlier appeared side by side in Gaza City to declare that Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas had agreed to pull back their gunmen.
The two sides also agreed to form a joint operations room with the Fatah-led security forces to respond quickly to any outbreaks of violence, a PA official said.
Under the current deal, only Palestinian police would be allowed to patrol the streets with weapons, the official said.
Abbas and Haniyeh called on the warring factions earlier Tuesday to stop fighting in the Gaza Strip, after a day of violence left six people killed, four of them members of Fatah and the other two members of Hamas.
"I call on all to show restraint and calm, not to resort to arms and to end tensions," Haniyeh said in a speech broadcast live on television, in which he also urged the warring factions to unite in the struggle against Israel.
"This nation, this people, will be united in front of the occupation and aggression and will not be engaged, despite the wounds of the past few days, in internal fighting," Haniyeh said in a televised speech.
Abbas said in a statement, "I call on ... all, without exception, to adhere to a cease-fire and to end the killings and all other operations in order to maintain our national unity."
Amid calls for a truce, Haniyeh also slammed Abbas' call for early Palestinian elections "illegal" and accused the United States of spearheading efforts to bring down his democratically-elected government.
"I want to clarify that we consider the issue of the early elections for the presidency and parliament unconstitutional," Haniyeh said. "If you [Abbas] consider the people the source of power, why are you working against the will of the people."
"There is an undeclared decision to bring down the government... and the Americans are leading this effort," Haniyeh added.
Gunbattles between Hamas loyalists and Fatah forces Tuesday also left at least 18 people wounded, medical officials said, including five children caught in the cross-fire.
The internal Palestinian fighting, the worst in a decade, has escalated since Abbas called Saturday for early elections in an attempt to break a political deadlock with the Hamas government. Hamas has accused Abbas of launching a "coup."
Six killed in Gaza battles Two security officers from a force loyal to Abbas' Fatah faction were killed in a running street battle with Hamas gunmen in Gaza City, hospital officials said. Earlier, a Hamas policeman was killed in an exchange of fire inside a hospital compound.
In other fighting, two Fatah security officials were kidnapped and killed by Hamas gunmen, Fatah officials said. Hospital officials said the two bodies had been dumped in a street.
Elsewhere, the car of the governor of northern Gaza, a prominent Fatah loyalist, was hit by gunfire. The governor, Ismail Abu Shamallah, escaped injury, officials said.
But Hamas and Fatah officials said throughout the day that they remained committed to the truce, and accused each other of violating the deal.
"Hamas is abiding by the cease-fire," said spokesman Ismail Radwan. "The problem is that not all of Fatah's militias are participating in this decision."
Ibrahim Abu al-Najah, a mediator who helped arrange the truce, appealed for calm.
"What is going on is a violation and sabotage and I have called on both parties to shoulder their responsibility and to end what is going on in the streets," he said.
Dozens of police loyal to Abbas but who work in the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry staged a protest outside their headquarters, firing rifles into the air and saying they would no longer take orders from minister Saeed Seyam. They called Seyam the "minister of treason."
Civilians fled for their safety and some shops closed. In between bouts of fighting, masked gunmen roamed the streets.
"This is madness," said taxi driver Adel Mohammad-Ali, 40. "The streets are divided between Hamas and Fatah gunmen. You never know who is who."
Witnesses and rival factions said the Hamas policeman was killed when forces of the two sides fought at the entrance and inside the compound of the main Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Rocket-propelled grenades were also fired in that incident.
Clashes also erupted outside a key security agency controlled by Abbas.
While neither the Hamas Islamists nor Fatah have declared the end of a ceasefire agreed on Sunday night, there has been a spate of gunfights and kidnappings of rival activists since then. Most hostages have been swapped.
Abbas told visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday he was committed to early elections but left the door open for the formation of a Fatah-Hamas coalition with a "technocrat" cabinet that could satisfy Western countries.
Meawnhile, Jordanian King Abdullah II on Tuesday hours before the seconf truce was agreed upon to host talks between Abbas and the leader of Hamas to resolve the bloody confrontation between their factions.
Abdullah's call came after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a surprise visit to the Jordanian capital and held talks with the monarch about reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
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