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Demonstrators holding the bodies of three children murdered by rival Palestinian factions (AP)
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| By Associated Press December 13, 2006 |
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Demonstrations erupted throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip Tuesday in a mass outpouring of grief and anger a day after the killing of an intelligence officer's three young sons. Students stayed home from school, newspapers penned angry editorials and mothers outside the president's office demanded protection for their children.
Amid rising tensions, Hamas gunmen opened fire on a group of demonstrators who blamed the militant Islamic group for the slayings. The escalating violence further reduced chances for a unity government and peace talks with Israel -- raising the specter of civil war instead.
Monday's shooting of three children raised fears of renewed bloodshed between moderate President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah and Hamas, who have been locked in a power struggle since Hamas ousted Fatah in parliamentary elections. More than 40 Gazans have died in battles between the two groups since Hamas took power in March.
The killing of the three young boys struck Gazans as a dangerous new stage in the fighting. "This is something we have never experienced here. We are asking ourselves: Are we close to civil war?" said Mayson Muzien, 27, at a protest in Gaza City.
However, there were few incidents of actual violence on Tuesday.
Hamas gunmen fired on Fatah demonstrators in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, wounding four people. Witnesses said children at the protest threw rocks at the gunmen, who fired back.
At another protest in northern Gaza, Hamas gunmen fired in the air above hundreds of demonstrators, including children, at a Fatah rally. No one was hurt.
On Tuesday evening, hundreds of Fatah supporters fired in the air and marched through Gaza's main street, calling out the names of Fatah members who died in factional fighting.
Then they closed off the street with burning tires.
About a dozen Fatah gunmen surrounded the car of Hamas parliamentarian Mohammed Shihab, he said, banging on his vehicle with their guns, hands and shoes, after a Fatah protest. Shihab said he was afraid he would be killed, but he escaped unharmed.
There were also demonstrations in West Bank cities. About 1,500 people protested in Nablus, and in Jenin, about 300 children staged a march.
In Hebron, about 1,000 marched through the city, with gunmen firing in the air. Participants called for the resignation of the Hamas-led government.
In a northern West Bank village, Hamas said gunmen shot and wounded a local Hamas official. Hamas said the shooting was part of the continuing unrest between the factions.
In Ramallah, Fatah gunmen fired at a group of Hamas supporters as they were putting up posters, lightly wounding one of the group, local hospital officials said.
The dead children's father, Baha Balousheh, an intelligence officer and Fatah loyalist, helped lead a crackdown on Hamas a decade ago. Balousheh, who was not in the car, escaped two previous Hamas assassination attempts.
Hamas denied involvement in Monday's brutal killing and denounced it. About 200 women loyal to Hamas, many with their faces covered, marched through Gaza's main street to condemn the killing, waving green flags of the Islamic movement.
Just hours before, About 1,000 Fatah-affiliated university students marched down the same road, waving bright yellow Fatah flags, and called on the government to resign.
Interior Minister Said Siyam of Hamas said accusations leveled against his group were "extortion."
He said he "inherited this chaos from those who are now making these statements," in an interview on the Hamas radio station in Gaza.
Dozens of women set up protest mourning tents outside Abbas' Gaza home, demanding that he take action.
Walaa Zaitar, a 21-year old university student, held up a banner charging that Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, was indirectly responsible.
"Where is the promise of safety by Abu Mazen and by the government?" she asked. "Anything but children ... this has gone too far."
Many protesters carried posters of the three dead boys -- ages 3, 6, 9 -- as well as other victims of Palestinian infighting.
Grieving women called into local radio stations, and newspaper editorials criticized Palestinian leaders for allowing security to deteriorate.
"Are we the brave heroes or are we the terrorists the media speaks of," sobbed one woman who called a Gaza radio station.
"The spilled blood of innocent children is a crime of all the factions," columnist Nasser al-Lahham wrote on the news Web site Maan. "This is criminal, not chaos."
Abbas, a political moderate, ordered security forces loyal to his Fatah Party to take up positions on main roads and at major intersections throughout Gaza City in an effort to maintain order. But many of the same men fired in the air and sent shoppers fleeing, forcing merchants to close their shops to maintain a general strike protesting the killings.
In Gaza City, some schools canceled classes after children refused to attend. Some students burned tires, blocked roads or held small demonstrations outside the buildings.
Months of tensions between Fatah and Hamas have heightened since Abbas' efforts to form a unity government with the Islamic group broke down last month.
Abbas is expected to deliver a policy speech on Saturday to discuss his plan to call an election, aides said Tuesday, drawing Hamas accusations that he is plotting a coup. |
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