A Palestinian police officer examines the damage to a house after a gun battle between Palestinian police officers and Hamas members in the West Bank town of Qalqilya
The deadliest gun battle for two years was fought out in the West Bank yesterday between rival Palestinian factions.
The fight erupted in Qalqilya, in the northern West Bank, when police officers from the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by the secular Fatah movement, tried to arrest a senior member of the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement which seized control of the Gaza Strip two years ago. The Hamas militant leader barricaded himself in a house and opened fire, leading to a battle that left him, another Hamas fighter and three policemen dead. A civilian was killed in the crossfire, Palestinian officials said.
Officials named the dead Hamas members as Muhammad Yasin and Muhammad Samman. Two of the Palestinian policemen were Shaher Hanini and Abdel Rahman Yasin.
As the authorities ordered a curfew in the town the hardline Hamas issued a warning to Fatah. “There is no difference between the [Israeli] occupation who shoots and the people who carry out their missions for them,” a Hamas military spokesman said. “Whoever touches our fighters should wait for the answer of the resistance.”
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Fatah, which was driven at gunpoint from Gaza by the Islamists, has jailed hundreds of Hamas activists since relations deteriorated. Prolonged reconciliation talks in Egypt have failed to make progress.
The fight came as Israel edged deeper into a stand-off with the US, its main ally, by rebuffing its demands to halt expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal by the international community.
Yisrael Katz, the Transport Minister, said: “The current Israeli Government will not accept in any fashion that legal settlement activity be frozen.”
Eli Yishai, the Interior Minister and head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said: “This is an unjustifiable demand that the Government and the public do not accept.”
One official accused Mr Obama, who will visit Cairo this week, of putting all the onus for peacemaking on Israel. “The Americans have demanded almost nothing from the Palestinians but are asking Israel to take steps that are a real sacrifice. These demands are unfair,” the official said.
The Israeli Government has to avoid alienating its key backer at a time when it is seeking support from Washington over Iran’s nuclear programme. With the threat of a nuclear Iran, Israel began its largest defence drills. Air-raid sirens will sound over Israeli cities tomorrow and citizens will run to shelters as part of the exercise, Turning Point 3.
The fight erupted in Qalqilya, in the northern West Bank, when police officers from the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by the secular Fatah movement, tried to arrest a senior member of the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement which seized control of the Gaza Strip two years ago. The Hamas militant leader barricaded himself in a house and opened fire, leading to a battle that left him, another Hamas fighter and three policemen dead. A civilian was killed in the crossfire, Palestinian officials said.
Officials named the dead Hamas members as Muhammad Yasin and Muhammad Samman. Two of the Palestinian policemen were Shaher Hanini and Abdel Rahman Yasin.
As the authorities ordered a curfew in the town the hardline Hamas issued a warning to Fatah. “There is no difference between the [Israeli] occupation who shoots and the people who carry out their missions for them,” a Hamas military spokesman said. “Whoever touches our fighters should wait for the answer of the resistance.”
Related Links
Obama offers olive branch to Middle East
Netanyahu rebuffs Obama over settlements
Obama to Netanyahu: stop settlements
Fatah, which was driven at gunpoint from Gaza by the Islamists, has jailed hundreds of Hamas activists since relations deteriorated. Prolonged reconciliation talks in Egypt have failed to make progress.
The fight came as Israel edged deeper into a stand-off with the US, its main ally, by rebuffing its demands to halt expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal by the international community.
Yisrael Katz, the Transport Minister, said: “The current Israeli Government will not accept in any fashion that legal settlement activity be frozen.”
Eli Yishai, the Interior Minister and head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said: “This is an unjustifiable demand that the Government and the public do not accept.”
One official accused Mr Obama, who will visit Cairo this week, of putting all the onus for peacemaking on Israel. “The Americans have demanded almost nothing from the Palestinians but are asking Israel to take steps that are a real sacrifice. These demands are unfair,” the official said.
The Israeli Government has to avoid alienating its key backer at a time when it is seeking support from Washington over Iran’s nuclear programme. With the threat of a nuclear Iran, Israel began its largest defence drills. Air-raid sirens will sound over Israeli cities tomorrow and citizens will run to shelters as part of the exercise, Turning Point 3.
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