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9 Die, Dozens Hurt In Gaza Infighting

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 3, 2008

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas forces battled Fatah-linked fighters with mortars and machine guns in a crowded Gaza neighborhood Saturday, leaving at least nine dead in the worst Palestinian infighting in nine months.

About 88 people were injured, 12 of them children, hospital officials said.
Loud explosions and gunfire could be heard throughout the day in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyeh, a stronghold of the Fatah-allied Hilles clan.

Hamas accuses the clan of hiding suspects in a Gaza car bombing last week that killed five activists of the Islamic militant group.

Relations between Hamas and the largely secular, Western-backed Fatah deteriorated sharply last week after the bombing. Hamas in Gaza and Fatah loyalists of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who control the West Bank have carried out mass arrests.

In the West Bank, Abbas' troops enforced a new ban on public assembly and expanded their campaign of arrests beyond Hamas: Club-wielding security men arrested and beat dozens of supporters of a nonviolent Islamic group.

The Gaza clashes began when Hamas raided Shijaiyeh under heavy morning fog. Security forces stormed several high-rise buildings and rounded up rooftop snipers, gunmen and wounded fighters, said Islam Shahwan, a Hamas police spokesman.

Ahmed Hilles, a clan leader and Fatah official, said Hamas police cut off electricity as they launched the raid. He explained why the clan fought back.

"You have to decide: Either be trampled under Hamas' shoes, or stand in dignity," he told The Associated Press by telephone, with gunshots crackling in the background. Hilles apparently fled to Israel later in the day.

In the West Bank, security forces armed with clubs arrested and beat dozens of supporters of the nonviolent Liberation Party, and broke up their rally in downtown Ramallah.

Abbas' troops put on a show of force in Ramallah, marching in formation through the center.

Amir Qimari, 25, a food company employee, watched the military display with dismay.

"This became an oppressive and non-democratic government," he said of the Western-backed Abbas and his West Bank prime minister, Salam Fayyad.

"What they say Hamas is doing in Gaza, they are doing here."

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