Middle East News
Fatah formally severs ties with Hamas (Roundup)
By DPA
Jun 19, 2007, 13:27 GMT

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.