Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Monday ordering the disbanding of the Executive Force, a Hamas-affiliated militia that answers to Interior Minister Sayeed Sayam in the Gaza Strip.

Several days ago, Abbas declared the Executive Force to be an illegal organization.

In recent days, senior Hamas officials have threatened to respond to attempts to target Executive Force members.

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Meanwhile, five Hamas militants were kidnapped by loyalists of the rival Fatah Party who stopped their car at gunpoint in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya late Monday, militants from Hamas and other factions said.

Three were released after about an hour following mediation by three other militant groups, said one of the mediators, Mohammed Madhoun of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hamas said two others continued to be held.

There was no comment from Fatah on the latest incident of violence between the two groups.

The Hamas militants were driving near the house of a Fatah leader when gunmen stopped their car, seized them, then torched the vehicle, Hamas said.

Iyad Buzem, a Hamas spokesman in Beit Lahiya, urged a quick end to the affair.

"We are patient, but our patience is limited," Buzem warned. "We want to
maintain calm - but not at the expense of the safety of our people."

A Hamas lawmaker from Beit Lahiya, Mushir al-Masri, cautioned that the renewal of violence would only increase tensions between the two groups, who have been engaged in deadly confrontations in recent weeks.

Mubarak: Infighting threatens bid for Palestinian statehood
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called on Palestinians locked in a violent power struggle to lay aside their differences in the interests of achieving statehood, state news agency MENA said Monday.

Mubarak called on the heads of the Palestinian factions to agree a common position for the good of the Palestinian people, and to set aside other issues to allow peace negotiations with Israel to resume, according to MENA.

"The continuation of Palestinian-Palestinian conflict will have a negative effect on the Palestinian cause and end Palestinians' hopes for establishing an independent state," MENA quoted Mubarak as saying.

Hamas accuses Dahlan of attempted coup
In Gaza, Hamas spokesmen accused Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan of attempting a coup - which they said he did while Yasser Arafat was chairman as well. Dahlan headed the Preventive Security service under Arafat, and was responsible for violent purges of Hamas militants.

"We will not allow those seeking a coup to drag our people into a civil war," Hamas' Fauzi Barhum said.

At a press conference, Barhum and Ismail Radwan promised the Palestinian people that Hamas would bring about the release of all Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Meanwhile, Fatah gunmen released the deputy mayor of Nablus on Monday. Mahdi al-Hanbali, a senior Hamas official, had been held hostage for three days.

Al-Hanbali, his face unshaven and his shoes covered in mud, was hoisted onto the shoulders of his supporters at the city council. He said he was not hurt in captivity, but he appeared nervous during a news conference, twitching his lips and fidgeting.

"They treated me well. They didn't ask me for anything special," he told reporters. He thanked Abbas and other officials for working for his release.

Also Monday, pro-Fatah militants torched stores owned by Hamas sympathizers. The firebombings marked the first time militants have targeted civilians in the West Bank.

Until this week, most of the violence was in the Gaza Strip, where more than 30 people have been killed in clashes. Now, Fatah militants in the West Bank have begun retaliating for Hamas attacks in Gaza.

In Ramallah Monday, Fatah militants set fire to six stores belonging to Hamas supporters, security officials said. A large clothing store and a money changing shop were destroyed, the officials said.

In the town of Al-Bireh, outside Ramallah, militants fired shots at the house of the Hamas-allied mayor, the officials said. No one was hurt.

Also Monday, former finance minister Salam Fayyad, a political independent who served in the Fatah-led cabinet, said gunmen fired at his office. Police investigating the shooting said one of Fayyad's bodyguards had accidentally discharged his weapon.

On Sunday, a Peruvian news photographer abducted by militants in the Gaza Strip was released, after six days in captivity.