Gaza/Ramallah - The Central Committee of President Mahmoud
Abbas' Fatah party formally severed all ties with Hamas Tuesday,
further solidifying the political divorce between the two rival
Palestinian groups which had sat in a national unity government until
late last week.
Meeting in Ramallah, Fatah's top body ruled that it would hold no
'dialogue, meetings or contacts' of any kind with the Islamic
militant movement until it reversed its 'military coup' in Gaza.
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told reporters in
Ramallah that Fatah would only resume talks with Hamas if the latter
withdrew from all Fatah-affiliated security posts occupied by its
militants in five days of savage fighting in Gaza last week.
The decision has no practical effect on the ground, since both
groups have been determinedly avoiding contacts since Hamas finalized
its take-over of the Gaza Strip on Friday, and Abbas set up an
emergency government, headed by independent economist Salam Fayyad,
which controls the West Bank.
But it was the latest in a series of steps formalizing the rupture
between Abbas and former prime minister Ismail Haniya and their
respective Fatah and Hamas.
After pulling Fatah out and dissolving the three-month-old Hamas-
led unity government late last week, Abbas on Sunday outlawed Hamas
military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades and late Monday dismantled the
National Security Council of which Haniya was deputy head, to replace
it with a new one at which Fayyad will serve as his deputy.
Meanwhile, a tense situation continued Tuesday at the Erez
crossing with Israel on the northern Gaza Strip border, where some
200 Palestinians, many of them Fatah members with their wives and
children, have been waiting for days for permission to enter into
Israel and escape to the West Bank.
On Monday night, at least one armed Palestinian attacked the
crossing, sparking a gunbattle with Israeli soldiers guarding it in
which one Palestinian civilian was killed and 17 injured.
Witnesses said four suspicious persons arrived at the crossing and
sat down among the crowd waiting outside, when one of them got up,
hurled at least one hand-grenade, pulled a semi-automatic weapon from
underneath his clothing and opened indiscriminate fire at the
soldiers.
An Israeli army spokesman spoke of one attacker. He said the
Palestinian civilian was killed by fire from the attacker. 'We know
because we fired at him (the attacker) only and a number of bullets,'
he said.
Several of the injured were treated for shrapnel wounds from the
grenade.
Witnesses said the Israeli army stationed two tanks outside the
Palestinian side of the crossing Tuesday to protect the waiting
civilians and serve as a buffer between them and Hamas militants
manning roadblocks on the main road leading to Erez.
There was no official public claim or responsibility, but Gaza
residents were convinced Hamas was behind the attack, the aim being
to cause Israel to permanently close the crossing and prevent Gazans
from leaving the Strip.
'Shooting at Israeli soldiers when there are Palestinians
civilians in the middle will never lead to the liberation of
Palestine or the al-Aqsa mosque, nor it will cause (Israeli Prime
Minister) Ehud Olmert a heart attack,' said one.
The Israeli head of the Gaza District Coordination Office (DCO)
with the Palestinians, Colonel Nir Peres, said Israel was wary of
letting Palestinian refugees through the crossing en masse..
He said Israel was unable to check the security records of
Palestinian passengers with previous partners in Gaza and was
concerned Fatah militants previously involved in rocket-fire against
Israel may be among those seeking to flee to the West Bank.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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