http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2104310,00.html
Fatah defiant on West Bank as Hamas takes Gaza Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, Hazem Balousha in Gaza City and Conal Urquhart in Ramallah Friday June 15, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Fatah militants parade in the West Bank town of Ramallah, in a show of strength. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA Jubilant Hamas militants cemented their domination over Gaza today but appeared to make conciliatory overtures to their Fatah opponents after a week of intense fighting that has effectively broken the Palestinian terrritories in two. Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, called for a new round of negotiations with the Fatah leader and Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and urged calm from his own loyalist gunmen after they had routed Fatah rivals and embarked on a wave of looting in Fatah offices and homes in the Gaza strip. Hamas also released 10 senior Fatah officials captured during five days of clashes that killed more than 100 people. Mr Haniyeh also demanded the release of Alan Johnston, the BBC correspondent kidnapped in Gaza more than three months ago. Today there were reports that his captors had promised an imminent release, but these could not be independently confirmed. Mr Haniyeh, formally sacked as government chief last night, as the Hamas revolt in Gaza climaxed, insisted he was still the legitimate prime minister on the basis of elections last year that Hamas dominated. "No internal formula in the Palestinian territories will hold without national agreement and without respecting the legitimacy of the election," he said. Fifty miles away in his West Bank seat of power, Mr Abbas presented a defiant front to the movement that has demolished his authority in Gaza, ignoring Mr Haniyeh's claim to office and naming a replacement prime minister, Salam Fayyad, a moderate technocrat respected in the West. Hamas denounced the move as a "political coup". But the movement has yet to indicate how it will exercise its newly consolidated power. It is not even clear how much of this week's violence was supported by Mr Haniyeh, or whether hardline elements in the movement precipitated the clash. All the crossings out of Gaza into Israel and Egypt remain closed and the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Gaza pulled out today. Thousands of Palestinians gathered at a rally in Gaza City in support of the Hamas takeover. Most approved of the defeat of Fatah, but many were also concerned about the future. "I think the future is dangerous," said Mohammad Samour, 28, a computing teacher. "Gaza needs money and aid. Our economic future is dark. But I'm just happy because I can move freely in the street without seeing any fighting." "The past situation was impossible to live through. It had to be stopped," said Akram Radwan, 34, a mathematics lecturer at the Islamic University. "We don't know what Hamas is going to do about rebuilding the security forces. But at the same time it's good to see Hamas took over and ended the era of corruption." Away from the rally, other Gazans spoke of their concern at a future under complete Hamas rule. "I worry about the economy and the freedoms under Hamas control," said Mohammad Thaher, 29, who owns a pizza restaurant. "I'm worried they might impose Islamic restrictions on women's dress, close coffee shops and so on." Western powers, including the US and the EU, pledged their support for Mr Abbas, speaking of him as a moderate leader. Some officials hinted that Israel might unfreeze tax revenues worth hundreds of millions of dollars that it has withheld from the Palestinians. "The fact that president Abbas has fired the Hamas government is a very positive move in our opinion, and makes it easier to deal with and help the moderates," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. But events in Gaza mean Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, now has no way of imposing his authority on the ground there. Images showing gunmen rifling through his personal offices at a ransacked compound in Gaza amply demonstrated his political emasculation. One gunman picked up his telephone and joked that he was calling Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, the Associated Press reported. "Hello, Rice?" the gunman said. "Here we are in Abu Mazen's office. Say hello to Abu Mazen for me." His supporters in Ramallah put on a show of force today to demonstrate that Fatah and the Palestinian Authority still controlled the West Bank. The men, members of Palestinian Authority security forces, stood on the back of 14 pickup trucks holding their rifles across their chests and drove slowly through the quiet streets. Last night, all over the West Bank, Hamas members were arrested and their offices looted and set alight. Ziad Abu Ein, a Fatah leader in Ramallah and a close ally of the jailed Fatah figure, Marwan Barghouti, predicted that anti-Hamas forces in Gaza would regroup. "What we have witnessed is a fascist, military coup. Hamas cannot control the Palestinian people with their machine guns. They may have taken a few government buildings but Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organisation still has the people in Gaza," he said. "In a few days there will be a new uprising in Gaza when people discover the truth of Hamas. There will be a big fight. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! 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