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Palestinian preacher gunned down

Assailants gunned down a Muslim preacher known for his anti-Hamas views on Friday, witnesses said, moments after he exited a mosque where he had delivered a sermon criticizing the Islamic group's role in a recent wave of Gaza violence.

The slaying came as thousands of Palestinian mourners marched through Gaza City carrying the bodies of seven Fatah men killed in a standoff with Hamas. Thursday's gunfight was the bloodiest single battle in weeks of factional fighting, and Fatah said it was suspending talks with Hamas until the assailants are brought to justice.

Responsibility

There was no claim of responsibility in Friday's shooting of Adel Nasar, a mosque preacher who was shot as he got in a car in the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza, according to witnesses. But Fatah accused Hamas.

"Sheik Nasar was killed after he came out of the mosque where he criticized Hamas after the crime committed by some of its gunmen yesterday," the group said in a statement on Friday.

Salem Salama, a lawmaker and top Hamas official in central Gaza, denied any involvement by his group.

"Hamas condemns this cowardly assassination," Salama said.

"We will work with all the honorable people here to find the killers and bring them to justice," he said.

Nasar's assailants pulled up to him in a white car and speed away after the shooting, witnesses said.

Nasar, 50, was not openly affiliated with any political party, but he was a well-known figure in the refugee camp and often preached against Hamas. Shortly before the shooting, Nasar had criticized Thursday's bloody attack on the home of Colonel Mohammed Ghayeb, a top Fatah official in northern Gaza, witnesses said.

In his sermon, Nasar warned that God would punish the killers of Ghayeb and his bodyguards. He also said God would punish Palestinian rulers for not preventing the attack, said Jibril Awwar, a friend of the preacher who was lightly wounded in Friday's shooting.

Nasar did not mention Hamas by name, but Awwar said the preacher's message was aimed at the Islamic group, which controls most of the Palestinian government.

Tensions

Political tensions have been high since Hamas defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections one year ago. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah favors peace talks with Israel. Hamas refuses to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, despite international sanctions against its government.

The political tensions erupted into violence last month after three young sons of a Fatah security commander were killed in a drive-by shooting. In all, more than two dozen people have died in the infighting.

The latest violence prompted an urgent meeting early Friday between Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Though the two sides agreed to pull back their forces, the meeting failed to cool raging tensions.

In Jebaliya in northern Gaza, thousands of people carried the bodies of Ghayeb and six bodyguards killed with him in a funeral procession held in pouring rain. The bodies were draped in yellow Fatah flags.

Dozens of Fatah gunmen joined the march, firing in the air and calling for vengeance against Hamas. Several charred cars remained parked outside Ghayeb's home, which was pocked with bullet holes, blacked by smoke and heavily damaged inside by Hamas grenade fire.

Mood

Echoing the mood on the streets, a Fatah statement accused Interior Minister Said Siyam's special security service of being behind Thursday's assault and called for attacks against the killers. As interior minister, Siyam oversees Hamas' official militia, widely known as the "executive force."

"They are legitimate targets unless they are handed over to justice," the statement said.

"Said Siyam is responsible for the execution and the cold-blooded murder to which our martyrs in Jebaliya were subjected. There will be no dialogue in the shadow of killing and terrorism practiced by Hamas," the statement added.
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