Jewish settlers on Friday rioted in the southern Gaza Strip and tried to block the "Gush Katif" junction to Palestinian traffic during what they said was a protest against Palestinian mortar attacks. The settlers threw stones at Palestinians and tried to pull Palestinian drivers out of their vehicles in attempts to commandeer them.
Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was to arrive in Gaza on Friday to demand that the armed groups respect the cease-fire truce with Israel.
Abbas vowed to take action against any future Palestinian cease-fire violations after Palestinians fired more than 40 mortar shells on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Abbas convened an emergency meeting of his Fatah party's central committee to discuss the shelling, and at the end of the meeting, the committee announced a "general alert and state of emergency among the Palestinian security services and the Fatah movement to deal with the severe security violations, the attempts to undermine the Palestinian Authority's deterrent capabilities, and the attempts to undermine its international commitments.
"The PA will confront these provocations, these attempts to give Israel an excuse to evade its commitments at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit and to gamble dangerously with the future of the Palestinian people," the statement said.
