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Hamas forces arresting a member of the rival Fatah movement during clashes in Gaza on Friday. (Reuters)
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20 wounded as Hamas forces beat Fatah men praying in Gaza
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

Hamas security forces armed with rifles and clubs beat Fatah supporters trying to hold street prayers to protest the Islamic group's rule in Gaza, witnesses said.

At least 20 people were hurt in clashes across the Strip. Hamas men also accosted at least seven journalists and arrested three, witnesses and reporters said.

The prayer protest was the latest episode in friction between the groups since Hamas' violent seizure of power in Gaza in June. This week Hamas banned all public prayers after Fatah supporters began holding worship sessions that quickly escalated into raucous protests against Hamas rule.

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In the northern Gaza refugee camp of Jebaliya, dozens Hamas security men in uniform and civilian clothes, carrying rifles or clubs, were stationed in streets to head off any attempt by Fatah supporters to gather. They fired in the air to keep Fatah supporters away, beat several people and detained one man, witnesses said.

Rescue workers said two people were brought to the hospital, one wounded by gunfire and another who had been beaten.

Hamas men also seized three members of Fatah's local leadership in Gaza and an adviser to West Bank-based Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, saying they had instigated "chaos." The three Fatah men were released later in the day, said a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

Abbas appealed for calm from the West Bank, where he and his Western-backed government have ruled since Hamas took over Gaza.

"We ask our worshippers to avoid any friction or confrontation with the coup-makers and their armed militia, which will not be deterred from carrying out the most gruesome and repressive measures against citizens," read the statement from Abbas.

In Jebaliya, the Hamas security men ordered journalists to stop filming and move away.

One security officer told reporters, "if a single shot is on TV, you know what will happen." He then drew his finger across his throat. At one point a Hamas security man tried to take a photographer's camera.

Similar incidents of harassment against journalists took place during previous weeks' Fatah protests.

Taher Nunu, a Hamas government official responsible for coordinating press coverage, said he was on the ground trying to sort out the problem of journalists coming under attack.

In Gaza City, Hamas forces scuffled with Fatah worshippers after trying to force them off a main square and to a nearby mosque, witnesses said. At least one man was dragged to a Hamas jeep and beaten by several security men, the witnesses said.

Several journalists trying to cover the scuffle were attacked by the forces, they said.

One of them was a local journalist working for the London-based Al Hayat who was beaten as tried to film someone being detained.

The Executive Force took away three Palestinian journalists - two working for Japanese television and the third man a photographer for the Associated Press - and roughed up five other reporters in the latest confrontations, witnesses said.

The three detained journalists were later released, their employers said. The Jerusalem-based Foreign Press Association demanded an end to a "coordinated ... policy of harassment" of the media.

Similar scuffles erupted in the southern town of Rafah, where Hamas forces clashed with worshippers who tried to gather in a public square.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, about 750 Fatah supporters gathered with Abbas for prayers to demonstrate solidarity with Fatah in Gaza.

Also Friday, a former member of a feared Fatah security force was found shot dead in Gaza, medics said, and a Fatah official charged Hamas with killing him.

Hamas' forces have arrested hundreds of Fatah security forces and officials since taking over Gaza.

Tarazan Doghmush was found dead Friday, the morning after he and his brother were kidnapped by unknown assailants, medics said. His brother is currently in intensive care at a Gaza hospital, the medics said. No further information was immediately available about the brother or how he was hurt.

Doghmush was a member of a Fatah-affiliated force, Preventive Security, before Fatah lost control of Gaza in June. The force was especially hated by Hamas men because of its role in crackdowns against the Islamic organization.

A Fatah official blamed Hamas for Doghmush's death, charging it was part of an arrest campaign against Fatah loyalists since the Hamas victory. The Fatah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from Hamas.

Hamas official Naser Khalifa confirmed Doghmush was killed, but denied his group was responsible. The charge was part of a Fatah smear campaign against Hamas, he said.
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  1.   Clickfool will blame Dov Divine 13:01  |  wotta laf 07/09/07
  2.   #1 13:55  |  Nik Miller 07/09/07
  3.   Who gains from the crime? 14:29  |  Natallie Durson 07/09/07
  4.   Internal ethnic cleansing! 14:34  |  Malcolm McDonald 07/09/07
  5.   Islamofascists vs Fatah terrorists, good news 14:34  |  maurice 07/09/07
  6.   Hamas are 6th century barabians and it`s good that they .. 14:47  |  redmike 07/09/07
  7.   The Islamic Democratic Republic of Hamastan in action, watch it 14:49  |  Anat 07/09/07
  8.   #1 - I stopped responding to Clickfool a year ago .. 14:52  |  redmike 07/09/07
  9.   Natalie `Israel must always be a suspect` Durson 15:07  |  martyrmaker 07/09/07
  10.   Please pray for these people!!! That the Living God would reveal 15:20  |  Virginia 07/09/07
  11.   #3..Natallie 15:21  |  Nemesis 07/09/07
  12.   #6..redmike 15:25  |  Nemesis 07/09/07
  13.   Did Hamas forces beat Fatah?-durson suspests Israel! What a fool. 15:25  |  Vittorio 07/09/07
  14.   Has hamas gone secular? 15:40  |  KUTW 07/09/07
  15.   To all those who were so proud of the Hamas coup 15:43  |  Jon 07/09/07
  16.   hey Nik 15:51  |  wotta laf 07/09/07
  17.   Fatah is not after prayer, it is after trouble, chaos, and 16:00  |  Gaza Christian 07/09/07
  18.   Expected Development 16:01  |  17 07/09/07
  19.   Israeli Jewish thugs have no right to attack Hamas 16:02  |  KOOL 07/09/07
  20.   Redmike 16:04  |  Simon Jenkins 07/09/07
  21.   #3: Israel doesn`t gain from Hamistan 16:11  |  Paul Freedman 07/09/07
  22.   Durson "Who gains from the crime?" - HAMAS 16:12  |  17 07/09/07
  23.   #11 Nemesis re Natallie 16:16  |  Murray of Montreal 07/09/07
  24.   We can only hope about a big killing between them 16:21  |  jean 07/09/07
  25.   #3, Ms Durson; Who gains from the crime? 16:22  |  Domenic Santini 07/09/07
  26.   Fateh supporters are thugs and stinkers 16:27  |  Nedal from Gaza 07/09/07
  27.   To Natalie Durson, Israel has recently put much money and effort 16:35  |  Jeff 07/09/07
  28.   Agree with Natalie Durson:who benefits from this? Israel&fatah. 16:38  |  lakshmi 07/09/07
  29.   Hamas Force 16:42  |  Al 07/09/07
  30.   Natalie Durson 16:46  |  Reuben Jacobs 07/09/07
  31.   Jimmy Carter! What do you think? 17:35  |  Clarence Darrow 07/09/07
  32.   Hamas is unfit to govern 18:31  |  Ibrahim 07/09/07
  33.   They must have been praying for peace with Israel. 18:33  |  Murray of Montreal 07/09/07
  34.   NICE PHOTO 18:33  |  Brant 07/09/07
  35.   here`s civilized society which deserves a state 18:37  |  Igor D. 07/09/07
  36.   Civil disobedience??? 18:43  |  maoriboy 07/09/07
  37.   Haaretz is Fateh supporter, publish my comment 18:50  |  Nedal from Gaza 07/09/07
  38.   It is possible that a Hamas member or a total random person did t 20:17  |  Jesus 07/09/07
  39.   Ignore Natalie Durson 20:35  |  Peter Burman 07/09/07
  40.   # 16 Worst President in US History 21:08  |  Lynn 07/09/07
  41.   no sense of humanity...morons 21:13  |  real vision 07/09/07
  42.   I thought Doghmush and their Clan ... 21:42  |  Bernie 07/09/07
  43.   Let them kill each other!! 21:57  |  gagnon 07/09/07
  44.   arab League 22:04  |  Dean Martin 07/09/07
  45.   Hamas beating fellow Muslims at prayer 22:05  |  MichaelF 07/09/07
  46.   arabs vs. arabs 22:28  |  Matthew 07/09/07
  47.   He would be so happy 22:36  |  Harry 07/09/07
  48.   carter don`t even compare to the 3 moron stooges of both 22:58  |  terrornator 07/09/07
  49.   For Nemesis, Vittorio & Redmike on opposition 23:09  |  Ed 07/09/07
  50.   news in gaza 00:10  |  peter 08/09/07
  51.   Bernie, Dogmush, Hatfield and the McCoys 00:27  |  FOX 08/09/07
  52.   a gangster government 01:26  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 08/09/07
  53.   27Bernie,you may recall that at the time of the takeover,there 01:51  |  lakshmi 08/09/07
  54.   When the brothers became infidels what they deserves? 01:51  |  e.m 08/09/07
  55.   #25 Lynn re: Carter 02:50  |  * BEN JABO 08/09/07
  56.   #27 Bernie - you can`t think, you can`t even remember 02:54  |  * BEN JABO 08/09/07
  57.   Thank God they have democratically elected 03:37  |  17 08/09/07
  58.   Re;Ibrahim.Iranians were not starving in 1979 when shah was there 04:15  |  e.m 08/09/07
  59.   32Ibrahim,at first glance what you say makes sense,Hamas should 04:30  |  lakshmi 08/09/07
  60.   36Maoriboy,agreed,see my post 59 where I give details about the 05:26  |  lakshmi 08/09/07
  61.   Where are the Human Rights groups? 05:27  |  The Barber 08/09/07
  62.   # 17 Good PR job 05:42  |  JOY 08/09/07
  63.   Durson on criminal benefits 05:44  |  Lynn 08/09/07
  64.   Who gains from the crime? (to #3) 05:50  |  Jacob 08/09/07
  65.   #37 Nedal from Gaza 05:53  |  Murray of Montreal 08/09/07
  66.   civil war 06:03  |  michel 08/09/07
  67.   # 59 lakshmi 06:06  |  Lynn 08/09/07
  68.   to Bernie#42 06:08  |  Ilya 08/09/07
  69.   to maoriboy#36 06:16  |  Ilya 08/09/07
  70.   Shameful 06:52  |  Jenna 08/09/07
  71.   #36 maoriboy CHAMPIONS hamas terrorists` VIOLENT COMPASSION 08:53  |  CK Tan 08/09/07
  72.   Re:Jenna#70.Yes it is shameful 09:56  |  e.m 08/09/07
  73.   Kool 09:57  |  Connie 08/09/07
  74.   An observation on islamic violence 10:01  |  Connie 08/09/07
  75.   The oddest thing (and Lakshmi et al just ddon`t get it) 10:35  |  ChanahS 08/09/07
  76.   Lakshmi 28 10:41  |  ChanahS 08/09/07
  77.   Incompatible culture, give them not an inch more land 11:16  |  Johnny 08/09/07
  78.   MAORIBOY So you agreee with beating up during a prayer meeting 13:41  |  PETER S .M. 08/09/07
  79.   Chanah S.the big difference is that israel is occupying 14:04  |  lakshmi