15 Palestinians Die – Killed By Palestinians

By IBRAHIM BARZAK

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and KARIN LAUB

The Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Hamas gunmen riddled a Fatah police jeep with gunfire at close range Tuesday, killing eight policemen in the most ruthless round yet of factional fighting, pushing the Palestinian unity government closer to collapse.

Gunmen in black ski masks took up positions in the streets, and terrified residents huddled in their homes. Israel, too, was briefly drawn into the battle.

“I don’t know when it’s going to end and what the future will bring,” said Salman Abu Arafeh, 42, a Gaza City interior decorator who was pinned down by gunfire in his apartment for hours, along with his wife and two children. A total of 15 people were killed in Tuesday’s fighting.

An Egyptian mediator said a truce was reached late Tuesday – the third in as many nights. The others have collapsed within hours. Around midnight, a car carrying Egyptian officials with Hamas and Fatah representatives came under fire, Hamas officials said, and an Egyptian diplomat was slightly wounded.

Hamas gunmen stormed the home of a top Fatah official early today in Gaza City, killing five bodyguards inside, Palestinians security officials said. Hamas gunmen fired mortars at the house of Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak before storming it and planting pipe bombs inside, the officials said. Abu Shbak and his family were not home at the time of the attack.

The renewed clashes today included mortars fired at the presidential compound of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. No one was wounded in this attack.

On Tuesday, Abbas called for the immediate implementation of a security plan that would put all rival forces under one command. However, his call is unlikely to be heeded: The fighting made it clear the Hamas-Fatah power struggle was never really resolved, despite formation of the unity government in March.

Gaza’s turmoil further weakened hopes for a resumption of Israeli- Palestinian peace talks, despite a new push by the Arab world to bring the sides to the table, based on an offer of Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from all lands it occupied in the 1967 Middle East War.

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