Word: gaza
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Three years after his death, Yasser Arafat still has the capacity to conjure up violence. At a huge memorial rally in Gaza on Monday, at least six people were killed and 80 wounded when supporters of the Palestinian chairman's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, clashed with Islamic militants of Hamas. Arafat's Fatah organization, now headed by Abbas, has been in the middle of a virtual civil war with Hamas since June. Indeed, they have divided up the two Palestinian enclaves between them, with Hamas dominating the Gaza Strip and Fatah controlling the West Bank...
Hamas commanders saw the 200,000-strong Arafat memorial rally by as a provocation, a challenge to their rule in the Gaza Strip by rivals of the Fatah movement, loyal to President Abbas. Hamas routed Fatah fighters in Gaza last June, but Arafat's old militia still has many followers in Gaza, judging from the rally's size. Gaza sources also said that many Palestinians attended the memorial as a protest against Hamas's tightening control over Gaza, which has triggered international sanctions by Israel and the international community on Gaza's 1.5 million residents. Palestinians in Gaza face constant...
Since taking over Gaza, Hamas has banned opposition rallies, but they relented for Arafat's memorial ceremony. A controversial figure among many Palestinians, Arafat nonetheless maintains a strong following for his leadership during the decades-long fight against Israel. On Monday, Fatah claimed that Hamas gunmen opened fire as a wave of Fatah supporters approached the Islamic University, and chaos ensued as the marchers fled between buildings draped with giant murals of Arafat's grizzled visage. But Hamas insists that Fatah snipers on the rooftops were the first to shoot...
Tension has risen between Hamas and Fatah in recent months, after Abbas loyalists struck back against the Gaza takeover by arresting hundreds of Hamas supporters inside the West Bank territory. In Gaza, Hamas officials accuse Fatah militant cells of setting off roadside bombs aimed at Hamas patrols. Apparently, according to Gaza journalists and eyewitnesses, those past incidents made Hamas fighters, unskilled at policing even small crowds, ready to lash out during the Fatah rally...
...start. With Benazir Bhutto now under house arrest, it's unclear where her supporters in the army stand. And if Musharraf really were to hold a free election in February, who would win? The last time there was a free election in the Middle East, Hamas won in Gaza...