Hamas, Fatah gunmen battle over vote result
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-28 07:49

Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged fire on Friday amid political turmoil as the long-dominant Fatah faction was threatened with a violent backlash from within after its crushing election defeat by the Islamic militant group.

Fatah supporters demonstrate against election results in the West Bank city of Hebron January 27, 2006. Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged fire in the Gaza Strip on Friday, fuelling fears of Palestinian turmoil following the Islamic militant group's crushing victory over the long-dominant faction in a parliamentary election. [Reuters]

Hamas, whose shock parliamentary election victory changed the face of Palestinian politics and plunged Middle East peacemaking deeper in limbo, said it would hold talks soon with President Mahmoud Abbas on a "political partnership." But Fatah leaders have rejected a coalition with Hamas.

The United States said it will review funding to the aid-dependent Palestinians if Hamas enters government and Israel suggested it could suspend customs revenue transfers, adding economic uncertainty to the political upheaval.

Some 20,000 Fatah supporters took to the streets in angry protests across the Gaza Strip, burning cars outside the Palestinian parliament building and firing rifles in the air. Some Hamas posters were ripped down by the crowd, which burned tires in the streets.

Acknowledging Hamas's new standing as a political powerhouse, Abbas told reporters: "We are consulting and in contact with all the Palestinian groups and definitely, at the appropriate time, the biggest party will form the cabinet."

The militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Fatah, issued a statement threatening to "liquidate" the faction's leaders if they changed their minds and joined a Hamas-led administration.

Palestinian girls try to look past armed Hamas supporters during a rally celebrating the group's victory in parliamentary elections in the Khan Younis Refugee Camp, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 27, 2006. Hamas leaders have hinted that despite their hardline ideology, they will be pragmatic and not disrupt daily life in the territories they are about to rule.[AP]

At separate rallies, thousands of Hamas backers celebrated their surprise victory.

While Fatah leaders have called for a peaceful transition of power, bad blood runs deep between the secular and Islamist rivals. Many Hamas gunmen still harbor resentment over crackdowns by Palestinian security forces amid peace overtures by Abbas to Israel, which has sought a clampdown on armed groups.

In the first armed clash between Hamas and Fatah militants since Wednesday's vote, three people were wounded in a gun battle near the southern city of Khan Younis.

In later flare ups there, Hamas gunmen and Palestinian security forces exchanged fire in Khan Younis, wounding a Hamas gunmen and two security officers.

Security sources said a further two policemen were wounded when masked gunmen, wearing trademark green Hamas headbands, fired at a patrol car, underscoring the difficulties ahead.

With Middle East peace talks frozen since 2000, Israel ruled out negotiations with any Palestinian administration involving Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction and has been behind dozens of suicide bombings.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Israel threw into doubt its willingness to continue the transfer of monthly customs revenues totaling tens of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority. The money is needed to help pay salaries for 135,000 government employees.