At least eight Palestinians died Sunday in clashes between armed members from the ruling Hamas Party and security personnel loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, hospital officials said.
Over 70 others were wounded in the clashes, including many bystanders.
The eight victims included a 15-year-old boy, hospital officials said. Of the wounded, three were schoolchildren and a cameraman for the Arab satellite TV station Al-Arabiya.
Hamas Radio accused Fatah Party of stoking the unrest and dividing the Palestinian people. It also attacked Abbas' efforts to pressure Hamas to recognize Israel. Abbas ordered security personnel, hired by Fatah when it was in power, not to take part in demonstrations against the Hamas-led cabinet.
The gunfight took place near the Palestinian parliament building, where hundreds of protesters gathered to demonstrate against long-overdue government salaries. Sources said that the Hamas force members were besieging the house of Safwat Rahmi, who is a PA preventive security officer, after arresting three of his bodyguards.
Hamas deployed its militia across the Gaza Strip on Saturday to break up any protests. Police protesting unpaid salaries clashed with the Hamas force.
On Saturday, the Hamas-led cabinet ordered all 3,000 Hamas militiamen deployed across Gaza to prevent wage-related protests.
On his part, Khaled Abu Hilal, the interior ministry spokesman, told a press conference that the "unruly" security elements were smearing the image of Palestinian policemen through damaging citizens' property and firing into the air a big number of bullets the price of which was enough to pay their salaries.
Abu Hilal charged foreign parties, which he did not name, of fueling such moves, adding that this ministry had acquired recorded material displaying the connivance of those involved in the riots. He urged all parties to exercise self-restraint and not to be dragged by foreign parties that aim at igniting a civil war in the Palestinian arena.
Security elements have been organizing violent acts over the past few days in the Gaza Strip, closing main roads and torching tires other than assaulting the PA culture minister Dr. Attalla Abul Sabh.
Later in the day, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a senior member of Hamas, called on Palestinians "to be responsible and abandon their differences." " We (Abbas and I) have agreed all parties must abide by the law ... and that they should not get involved in any kind of behaviour that may lead to the spread of chaos," Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza.
According to Reuters, he also said he and Abbas discussed renewing talks on forming a unity coalition.
According to WAFA, during a phone call between Haniyeh and Abbas, the latter stressed the necessity to stop all clashes and chaos, and to immediately impose order and security.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
