The recent clashes between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza normally start with a local incident that spills over into an exchange of fire throughout the Gaza Strip, and continues with a series of abductions on both sides, use of RPGs and mortars, the takeover of homes, snipers on the roofs, roadblocks and executions - Rwanda-style.

However, unlike similar clashes several weeks ago, for the first time Fatah can mark a victory. In all the previous gun battles, the number of Fatah casualties was always higher than those of Hamas. During the weekend, Hamas lost more of its people.

The incident most reflective of Fatah's success occurred on Friday night. Similar to the raid in which Colonel Muhammad A'rib, of Fatah's Preventive Security Apparatus, was assassinated, Hamas' Executive Force surrounded the home of a senior Fatah official, Mansur al-Shlayel, in the Jabalya refugee camp.

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The Hamas force isolated the area, setting up roadblocks to prevent Fatah reinforcements from arriving. However, it appears that the Fatah forces learned their lesson from the previous incident. Muhammand Dahlan, who is in charge of the security forces controlled by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, a role he denies as having, called up all Fatah commanders and warned them that if anything happened to al-Shlayel, "I will fire the lot of you."

The message was loud and clear. In less than an hour, a force of 70 armed men from the Presidential Guard, the Naval Police and the National Security Force was organized.

"This is an elite force," a senior Fatah official told Haaretz. This force, equipped with armored personnel carriers, that are part of Abbas' arsenal, moved toward Jabalya, broke through the Hamas roadblocks and surrounded the Hamas force besieging al-Shlayel's home.

During the incident, seven Hamas men were killed, dozens were injured, and 10 were arrested. But in spite of its victories, Fatah cannot be pleased with the developments in the Gaza Strip.