Argument over control of training base spurs worst violence since Mecca accord.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFjp.services2(photo credit: )
A Fatah-affiliated security officer was wounded on Monday in a daytime Hamas-Fatah gunbattle in the worst outbreak of internal violence since rival Palestinian factions agreed to form a unity government last month, security officials said.
The gunbattle broke out in Gaza City when Hamas and Fatah loyalists argued over who had control of a nearby training compound, security officials said.
Abbas, Haniyeh fail to make progress
The Fatah-allied security forces demanded the Hamas gunmen leave the area, but they refused, saying it fell under the control of the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, security officials said. There were no injuries.
In two other incidents, unknown assailants fired shots at the house and car of a senior security officer who has had past problems with Hamas, security officials said. Shots were also fired at a police headquarters, and police returned fire, the security officials said.
The fighting came as negotiators from Hamas and Fatah tried to resolve lingering issues over a national unity government. Hamas, which won parliamentary elections last year, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party agreed last month to form the coalition government, partly in hopes of ending months of deadly street battles between the two groups.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Monday that talks on the government were not done.
"The Palestinian government won't finish discussions or be announced before the end of next week," he said. Haniyeh has two more weeks to form a government.
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