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Fatah leader rejects weapons call

Armed supporters of Samir Masharawi jump from a pick-up truck before his press conference in Gaza City on Saturday. Masharawi, a powerful Gaza Strip militia leader, rejected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's call to end public displays of weapons. PHOTO: AP

Dozens of gunmen fired wildly into the air as a Gaza Strip strongman rejected calls for an end to public displays of weapons, raising the risk of new factional violence.

Samir Masharawi, a senior member of the Fatah Party in Gaza, spoke on Saturday, a day after four people were killed and 36 wounded in unrest sparked by the killing of a top, Hamas-linked militant in a car bombing. His followers accused the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security Service and top Fatah officials in Gaza, including Masharawi, of involvement.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas member, appealed for calm on Saturday and pledged to remove rogue gunmen from the streets of Gaza.

But Masharawi, one of the most powerful figures in Gaza, rejected the call. Returning to Gaza from Egypt in a heavily armed convoy, Masharawi told reporters that he was offended by the "baseless" allegations against security forces and Fatah leaders. He also said he would not be able to persuade his followers to hide their arms.

"It seems that the brothers in Hamas forget that they are in power and represent a Palestinian government and are responsible for defending security institutions," he said.

As he spoke, dozens of bodyguards fired repeatedly in the air.

Gaza has been plagued by lawlessness in recent months, with gunmen roaming the streets with impunity. Many have ties to Fatah.

Hamas is the only armed Palestinian group still honoring a year-old ceasefire with Israel, but it appears willing to tolerate attacks on Israel by other groups. After a Fatah-linked suicide bomber killed four Israelis in the West Bank on Thursday, Hamas officials affirmed the Palestinian right to "resist occupation."

"Israel forces the people into this kind of action," Palestinian Information Minister Youssef Rizka said.

Israeli counterterrorism expert Boaz Ganor said Hamas is caught in the conundrum of trying to gain international legitimacy while keeping to its violent ideology.

"They are trying to hold the stick from both ends," he said. "Maybe they can stop their own fire, but they can't speak out against others."

Hamas took control of the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, two months after trouncing Fatah in legislative elections.

It has pledged to restore order in Gaza and the West Bank, but Palestinian security forces have been involved in much of the violence, and Hamas has little control over them.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Fatah member who favors peace talks with Israel, has also struggled to maintain control over the Palestinian security forces.

The militant who was killed on Friday, Abu Yousef Abu Quka, was a senior commander of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an umbrella group of about 200 gunmen that has been linked to explosions of Israeli tanks and a deadly attack on a US diplomatic convoy in 2003.

About half the PRC gunmen are allied with Hamas and the other half with Fatah.

Interior Minister Said Siyam, who oversees security affairs, met with representatives of various Palestinian factions and urged calm to avoid "internal strife."

Asked about Masharawi's statements, Siyam, a Hamas member, said: "We don't want to spark the fire and the strife."
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