Tropical Sands
14-06-2006, 12:55
Just the other day Fatah attackers attempted to burn down Parliament, riddling it with bullets and setting a cabinet building on fire. Now, we have Fatah members raiding a session of Parliament and Hamas attempting to assassinate the Fatah Security Minister.
Is the Palestinian leadership driving the Occupied Territories into civil war?
Civil servants storm PA parliament (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150191578222&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull)
Jun. 14, 2006 10:30 | Updated Jun. 14, 2006 13:58
Civil servants storm PA parliament
By JPOST STAFF AND AP
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip
Dozens of Palestinian civil servants stormed a parliamentary session on Wednesday to demand long-overdue salaries, attacking Hamas lawmakers and forcing the parliament speaker to flee the building.
The demonstrators, believed to be mostly members of Fatah, chanted slogans and banged on the door of the building before entering the hall. The angry crowd then pelted Hamas lawmakers with water bottles, tissue boxes and other small items. Some climbed onto the lawmakers' desks.
"We are hungry. We are hungry," the protesters screamed.
Earlier in the day, Hamas gunmen ambushed the car of a security commander loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, shooting him seven times in the legs, Palestinian security officials said.
Seeking to avenge the attack on their commander, Fatah gunmen shot and killed a senior Hamas man belonging to the group's military wing, Izzadin al-Kassam. An innocent bystander was reportedly wounded in the incident.
Rifat Kulab, commander of the Preventive Security agency in the southern town of Khan Younis, was in moderate condition and his life was not in danger, the officials said. Kulab's house was also set on fire.
Tensions between Abbas' Fatah and the ruling Hamas group have been rising since Hamas won legislative elections in January and ended Fatah's 40-year hold on the Palestinian leadership.
On Tuesday the bank accounts of Hamas ministers and legislators have been frozen by Palestinian banks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip at the request of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's office, Hamas officials disclosed.
The move followed Monday's attacks on several Hamas institutions in the West Bank by gunmen belonging to Abbas's Fatah party and members of various branches of the Fatah-dominated PA security forces.
Hamas leaders claimed on Tuesday that the attacks, which began almost simultaneously in different parts of the West Bank, were carried out on instructions from senior officials in Abbas's office. Abbas's aides denied the charges, saying the attacks were a spontaneous response to a rocket attack on the headquarters of the Preventative Security Service in Rafah by dozens of Hamas militiamen.
Is the Palestinian leadership driving the Occupied Territories into civil war?
Civil servants storm PA parliament (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150191578222&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull)
Jun. 14, 2006 10:30 | Updated Jun. 14, 2006 13:58
Civil servants storm PA parliament
By JPOST STAFF AND AP
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip
Dozens of Palestinian civil servants stormed a parliamentary session on Wednesday to demand long-overdue salaries, attacking Hamas lawmakers and forcing the parliament speaker to flee the building.
The demonstrators, believed to be mostly members of Fatah, chanted slogans and banged on the door of the building before entering the hall. The angry crowd then pelted Hamas lawmakers with water bottles, tissue boxes and other small items. Some climbed onto the lawmakers' desks.
"We are hungry. We are hungry," the protesters screamed.
Earlier in the day, Hamas gunmen ambushed the car of a security commander loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, shooting him seven times in the legs, Palestinian security officials said.
Seeking to avenge the attack on their commander, Fatah gunmen shot and killed a senior Hamas man belonging to the group's military wing, Izzadin al-Kassam. An innocent bystander was reportedly wounded in the incident.
Rifat Kulab, commander of the Preventive Security agency in the southern town of Khan Younis, was in moderate condition and his life was not in danger, the officials said. Kulab's house was also set on fire.
Tensions between Abbas' Fatah and the ruling Hamas group have been rising since Hamas won legislative elections in January and ended Fatah's 40-year hold on the Palestinian leadership.
On Tuesday the bank accounts of Hamas ministers and legislators have been frozen by Palestinian banks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip at the request of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's office, Hamas officials disclosed.
The move followed Monday's attacks on several Hamas institutions in the West Bank by gunmen belonging to Abbas's Fatah party and members of various branches of the Fatah-dominated PA security forces.
Hamas leaders claimed on Tuesday that the attacks, which began almost simultaneously in different parts of the West Bank, were carried out on instructions from senior officials in Abbas's office. Abbas's aides denied the charges, saying the attacks were a spontaneous response to a rocket attack on the headquarters of the Preventative Security Service in Rafah by dozens of Hamas militiamen.