Israeli troops killed two Palestinian militants in a shootout early yesterday, while the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appeared to be making an unexpectedly strong showing against key rival Hamas in local elections in dozens of West Bank towns and villages.
Hamas said the results were preliminary and that it was too early to judge. The Islamic militant group also complained that many of its candidates were detained by Israeli troops before Thursday's election. The arrests are part of Israel's weeklong campaign against militants, triggered by rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli border towns.
Armed groups have threatened revenge, and an informal seven-month-old truce could collapse as a result of the escalation.
Pressing forward with the military campaign, Israeli soldiers raided the Balata refugee camp outside the West Bank city of Nablus early yesterday, searching for wanted Palestinians, the army said. Gunmen shot at the soldiers, who returned fired, the army said.
Two Palestinians were killed and another seriously injured, according to witnesses and Palestinian officials. The gunmen were from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group with ties to Abbas' Fatah movement.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has said the wave of air strikes, arrests and targeted killings was meant to show militants that Israel would not tolerate any attacks from Gaza in the wake of its pullout from there this month. Mofaz and top army commanders decided Thursday that the strikes would continue at least for several more days.
In the West Bank, local elections were held on Thursday in 104 towns and villages, with a total of 376,000 residents, or a little over 10 percent of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It was the third of four rounds of municipal elections, with no date set yet for the final vote in the largest Palestinian cities.
Jamal Shobaki, head of the Local Elections Commission, said Fatah took control of 61 councils, while Hamas won in 28. Other parties and independents won in 15 councils, said Shobaki, a leading Fatah member.
Final results were expected later yesterday.
Fatah, the ruling party for more than a decade, appeared to be making a relatively strong showing, against initial predictions of a continued rise of Hamas. Many voters have said they want to punish Fatah for widespread corruption and will choose Hamas in hopes of getting clean government. In local voting, Hamas' violent ideology is not considered an issue.
Results in local elections are not necessarily a clear reflection of the respective strengths of political parties, since many voters choose candidates according to clan membership, not party affiliation. The biggest contest between Hamas and Fatah will come in parliament elections in January.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, of Fatah, said Thursday's vote would not necessarily predict the outcome of the parliament election.
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