World

Fatah-Hamas Coalition Close to Collapse

by erikasnyder | May 14, 2007 at 10:07 pm

527 views | 4 Recommendations | 2 comments

The collapse of the internal Palestinian cease fire on Sunday
continued to reverberate through the streets of Gaza as another
militant was found dead Tuesday morning. Since Sunday, at least four gunmen
have been killed.

On Monday, the Palestinian Authority deployed
thousands of policemen in Gaza in an attempt to stem the rising
violence. Previous deployments of PA troops have failed to diminish
the tension between the two groups.

The decision to up PA police presence on the streets followed the resignation of PA Interior Minister Hani Kawassmeh, who formally was in charge of all Palestinian security forces.

"I didn't
want to serve as an interior minister with no authority," he said. "I
had promised my people to end the anarchy and lawlessness. But I can't
carry out my duties if I don't have control over security."

PA security
sources said about 30 people were wounded Monday, some seriously.
According to the sources, 185 Palestinians have been killed and 1,146
wounded in internal fighting since the beginning of the year as was reported in The Jerusalem Post.

Muhamed
Abdo, a twenty-two year old journalist, died of his wounds early Monday
morning. Abdo was the second member of the press killed in as many
days. Editor Suleiman Ishi of the Falasteen Daily was kidnapped along
with Abdo on Monday in retaliation for the assassination of senior Hamas
militant Baha Abu Jarad.

Monday's fighting began when two body guards of senior Fatah spokeman Maher Miqdad were killed in an attack directed against Miqdad.

Senior
members of both parties accused their respective counterparts of
attempting to ignite a civil war. A Fatah legislator from the West
Bank said Hamas was attempting to do so to "serve the adgenda of
non-Palestinian parties." A Hamas spokeman accused Fatah and Abbas
loyalists of waging a military campaign to overthrow the new Hamas-led
government coalition.

According to The Jerusalem Post leaflets
distributed by Hamas activists in Gaza City blamed "Mossad and CIA
agents" for the latest cycle of intra-Palestinian fighting.