Hamas blames US for 'coup' attempt

The Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, on Dec. 19 accused the US of trying to bring down the elected Hamas government and called for calm after at least four people were killed in a day of heavy fighting between rival factions in Gaza. "There was a direct decision to bring down this government and make it collapse, and the Americans are behind this policy," Haniyeh said in a speech on Palestinian television. "There is an undeclared decision to bring down the government... and the Americans are leading this effort." Haniyeh also reiterated a call for the formation of a temporary Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state. He said a truce with Israel could last as long as 20 years, after an independent Palestinian state is established in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel rejects a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders. Haniyeh's words came only a day after British Prime Minister Tony Blair traveled to Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to give his backing to Haniyeh's rival, the Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas issued a challenge to Hamas on Dec. 16 when he called for early presidential and parliamentary elections. Blair then proposed a controversial plan to bolster Abbas by funneling millions of dollars in aid directly to security forces under the Palestinian leader's control. The risky move was approved with the consent of the US. Significantly, the plan suggests that some of the aid be used to fund the civilian police and increase Abbas's own security guard. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would ask Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen Abbas's security forces. These moves infuriated moderate Palestinian members of Parliament. Moderate Parliamentarian Mustafa Barghouti said the idea of early elections was a mistake. "It is very difficult to have early elections without consensus between the different groups," he said. "You can't just have an election without people agreeing to that election." Barghouti said the only solution to the crisis was a return to the long-stalled negotiations to form a national unity government. Haniyeh spoke after Hamas and Fatah security chiefs appeared side by side to declare that he and Abbas had agreed to the withdrawal of their forces from the streets. Nine days of gun battles, kidnappings and murders have brought Gaza to the brink of civil war, as gunmen on the street play out a struggle for power between the two Palestinian leaders. The crisis among the Palestinians developed after Hamas won an election in January. Abbas' Fatah party controls the presidency, while Hamas controls parliament and the Palestinian Cabinet. Abbas has the support of the US and Britain, who both refuse to talk to the Hamas government. Since Hamas won the elections, the Palestinian Authority has faced a crippling financial boycott from Israel and the international community. Fatah and Hamas are both struggling for power. On Dec. 11, unidentified gunmen in Gaza City killed three sons, ages 3 to 9, of Baha Balousha, a senior Palestinian security officer and Fatah member. Then, on Dec. 13, gunmen forced a prominent Hamas judge to his knees, then shot him dead outside a courthouse where he worked in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas said a Fatah "death squad" was responsible for the killing of Bassam al-Farra, in Khan Yunis. Fatah denied involvement. On Dec. 14, a gun battle broke out when officers from the General Intelligence unit, a force allied to Fatah, arrested a member of another faction, the Popular Resistance Committees, in connection with the killing of the three sons of the Fatah intelligence officer. After the arrest, the Popular Resistance Committees kidnapped a General Intelligence security officer in retaliation. On Dec. 15, Israel blocked Haniyeh from entering the Gaza Strip with millions of dollars of desperately needed donations. Israel's Defense Ministry learned from US sources that Haniyeh intended to cross into the Gaza Strip with large sums of cash. Defense Minister Amir Peretz then decided to order the Rafah crossing closed to prevent Haniyeh's entry. In a compromise solution, Haniyeh was allowed to enter through the Rafah crossing following a delay of more than seven hours. However, Haniyeh was forced to leave behind more than $30 million in cash contributions to Hamas from Arab states he visited on a tour of friendly countries. In the end, the compromise was achieved through a series of telephone calls between the offices of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Peretz and Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman. The United States was also directly involved in the exchanges and played a role in both blocking Haniyeh's entrance and in formulating the compromise. At the same time, more controversially, Fatah was accused of attempting to assassinate Haniyeh during the debacle. One of Haniyeh's bodyguards was reported to have been killed, and more than two dozen other people were wounded–including Haniyeh's son who was shot in the face. More than 1,000 Hamas members stormed the checkpoint and two bombs were detonated to blow a hole through the concrete wall on the border. Angry Hamas officials blamed Mohammed Dahlan, a senior member of Fatah. "Mohammed Dahlan bears the direct responsibility for the assassination attempt which targeted the prime minister and he bears responsibility for the blood of the martyrs in the incident," a Hamas spokesman told a news conference in Gaza. "The dirty hands which assassinated and wounded the bodyguards of the prime minister and attacked the prime minister's convoy will not escape punishment." Meanwhile that day, riot police loyal to Abbas stopped Hamas followers in Ramallah from joining a mass rally of an estimated 70,000 people to celebrate Hamas' 19th anniversary. The stand-off quickly degenerated into a brawl, with police officers attacking the crowd with clubs and rifle butts. Gunfire broke out. In Gaza City, security forces loyal to Fatah fired on Hamas supporters rallying in the West Bank. At least 32 Hamas supporters in Ramallah were wounded by gunfire from Fatah-loyal forces. The next day, Israel vowed to tighten enforcement of the international boycott of the Palestinian Authority. Security sources in Israel said that Hamas officials who attempt in the future to bypass the economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority will not be allowed to cross back into the Gaza Strip. Abbas then called for elections in a despairing 90-minute speech, insisting he had the right to fire the Hamas-led government. Abbas's aides said a date for new elections could be set within a week and that the vote could take place within three and six months. But Abbas's speech proved more divisive than constructive. In threatening to call early elections, Abbas finds himself on shaky legal ground. The constitution does not give him explicit power to call an early election and many doubt Fatah would win a new vote. "The law is clear. Abbas can't dissolve parliament and call for new elections, neither in an emergency nor in a normal situation," said independent political analyst Khalil Shikaki. Haniyeh rejected Abbas's call and threatened to boycott any elections. He accused Abbas of trying to topple the government and dismissed his speech as "inflammatory" and "insulting to Palestinians everywhere." Haniyeh called Abbas's election ploy a provocative and cynical move against a democratically elected government. Abbas aides say he has ways around the legal hurdles, by either calling a referendum on whether to hold elections, or by invoking superior powers as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Hamas warned that any government formed as a result of such elections would be considered illegitimate and said they would not step aside to allow it to take office. "Early elections are a constitutional, popular and legal breach," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. "Whoever asks us to respect the international legitimacy has to respect the Palestinian legitimacy first," he said, referring to Hamas' landslide victory in January. Hamas foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar accused Abbas of attempting a coup. "What is happening is a real military coup, assassinations, attempted assassinations, the occupation of headquarters and ministries," a visibly angry Zahar told a news conference. In Syria, Farouk Qaddoumi, a Fatah leader and one of the most senior members of the PLO, also rejected early elections. That suggests that Abbas, chairman of the PLO, is facing division even within his own camp. On Dec. 17, a group of masked men attacked a training camp in Gaza used by the presidential guard, which is loyal to Abbas. One guard was killed and five others were injured. A few hours later, gunmen attacked a convoy of cars carrying Zahar, sparking a gun battle in the streets of Gaza City. Hamas promptly accused Fatah of mounting an assassination attempt. Then large numbers of Fatah gunmen poured onto the streets near a house that Abbas uses when he visits Gaza. The gunmen overran the nearby agriculture ministry and the transport ministry, closing them down, and then took up positions on the rooftops in the area, effectively sealing off a large part of central Gaza City. A 19-year-old woman was killed in one gunfight between Hamas and Fatah forces in the city. Five others were wounded. Zahar said the seizure of two of its ministries by forces loyal to Fatah in Gaza amounted to a "military coup." Hours later, two mortars were fired at Abbas's house, injuring five Fatah guards and a woman. Hamas gunmen also opened fire on a Fatah rally in northern Gaza, injuring three people. At the end of the day, a ceasefire between the factions lasted only a few hours. On Dec. 19 there was shooting at Gaza's Shifa hospital when Fatah gunmen tried to bring in an injured man for treatment. After an hour-long gun battle, one Hamas gunman was dead and several other people were wounded. Five children were injured in other fighting and schools were quickly closed across Gaza. An office of the Fatah-run intelligence service was attacked by mortars and grenades. Two Fatah security officers sitting in a parked car were shot dead, and another Fatah official was kidnapped and killed. Gunmen shot at the car of the governor of northern Gaza, Ismail Abu Shamallah, a prominent Fatah figure. Hamas gunmen set up makeshift checkpoints in many places. In total, 18 people were injured. Since the latest round of clashes began, at least 14 people have been killed in what has now become the most serious infighting between the Palestinian factions. Haniyeh called for calm. "I am calling on everyone to calm down and ease the tensions and end the armed displays that worsen tensions." In a statement from Ramallah, Abbas also called for an end to the clashes. "I emphasize that dialogue is the only way to achieve our national goals," he said. The latest ceasefire agreement, brokered by Egyptian mediators and announced at a joint news conference by the security chiefs, calls for "all armed men" to leave the streets, and for Hamas and Fatah forces to return to positions held before the fighting intensified. The deal requires various factions to also free hostages they were holding. It is unclear whether or not this latest agreement will hold.