Gaza fighting escalates but truce efforts renewed
Source: Reuters
(Adds RPG, mortar attacks after truce pledge, Hamas on quartet) By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Fighting between rival Palestinian factions escalated across Gaza on Friday, killing at least 17 people, as Hamas Islamists overran compounds used by President Mahmoud Abbas's forces and two universities were set ablaze. Residents of the narrow coastal strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, hid in their homes instead of attending Friday prayers as the rivals fought running gunbattles with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades from streets and rooftops. "Gaza is being burned down," Arafat Abu Eyad said from his smoke-filled balcony that overlooks buildings left smouldering as the power struggle between the two sides turned bloodier. Factional violence surged after Abbas of the Fatah movement called in December for new elections, and back-to-back ceasefire deals have failed to halt the fighting. Hamas took control of the Palestinian government in March after beating Fatah at the polls. Hamas says holding another vote would amount to a coup. Following talks by phone late on Friday between Hamas's political leader Khaled Meshaal and Abbas, the two sides agreed to attempt another ceasefire and to withdraw their gunmen from the streets, a senior Fatah leader said.Despite the pledge, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the Hamas-led Interior Ministry and mortar bombs landed inside the main security complex of forces loyal to Abbas. Meeting in Washington, the quartet of Middle East peace brokers voicing concern about violence among Palestinians and backed a U.S. push to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks through Abbas. Hamas, which says Washington is fuelling the fighting to bring down its government, accused the quartet of doing the Americans' bidding and punishing the Palestinian people. "This position does not contribute to bringing security, stability and calm in the region, but it contributes to increasing the suffering of the Palestinian people," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. At the urging of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, Abbas and Meshaal agreed to hold meetings on Tuesday in the holy Muslim city of Mecca to try to resolve their differences over a unity government, Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said. A meeting between Meshaal and Abbas last month was inconclusive. Increasing pressure on Hamas, Abbas told a committee in charge of national elections to move forward with plans for presidential and parliamentary votes if talks on forming a unity coalition fall through, Abu Rdainah said. Abbas did not set a deadline for his ultimatum. The quartet -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- appeared to reaffirm a year-old international aid embargo against the government unless it renounces violence, recognises Israel and respects past peace deals. GUNBATTLES Nine fighters loyal to Abbas, four Hamas gunmen and four civilians, including two children, were killed on Friday in a second day of clashes in Gaza that shattered a three-day-old truce between Fatah and the ruling Islamist movement. Unidentified gunmen also shot at a vehicle carrying Fatah officials, wounding eight people, Palestinian security sources said. Near the West Bank town of Nablus, unidentified militants shot and wounded a Hamas gunman, security sources there said. At least 23 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded in the last 24 hours of internecine fighting in Gaza. Hours after Fatah gunmen set ablaze Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold, explosions and fires ripped through the nearby campus of al-Quds University, a Fatah bastion. Hamas denied any involvement in the al-Quds attack. Hamas also pounded a base used by Abbas's presidential guard with mortar bombs before taking it over. Several buildings used by Fatah-dominated security forces were also overrun by Hamas. Ashraf Reziq, who lives a block from the Islamic University, said nobody felt safe. "Gaza has turned into a city of ghosts," the 22-year-old said. "No one is in the streets ... if we have one thing at all, it is fear." (Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi and Ali Sawfta in Ramallah)
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