GAZA: Joint Hamas-Fatah police force deploys in Gaza to combat lawlessness

A joint Hamas-Fatah police force deploys in Gaza to combat lawlessness, in what officials say is the start of an implementation of a new security plan. Palestinian police began deploying in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday (May 9) under a security plan that political factions hoped would cement a coalition government deal by curbing internal violence. Security men from both the dominant Islamist Hamas and the more moderate Fatah faction, having often traded fire in recent months of infighting, were expected to fan out together through the troubled territory within 48 hours, an official said. The deployment was ordered by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, who set up a "unity" government in March hoping to stem the spiralling chaos and soften a Western aid embargo on the Palestinian Authority. "There is a full agreement," said Nabil Shaath, a close aide to Abbas. "I think the determination is there and I think what we will be seeing in the next 48 hours is a full deployment in order to deal with the lawlessness that has bedevilled this area," he said. Shaath, a senior Fatah leader, said the formerly rival Hamas and Fatah policemen would now wear the same uniform and take orders from the Interior Ministry, which as part of the coalition pact went from Hamas's control to that of a political independent. Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal declined comment. Previous police deployments in Gaza have not fully secured the territory, which has sunk into poverty and political disarray since Israel withdrew troops and settlers in 2005. Some 400 Palestinians have died in Gazan street fighting over the past year, according to human rights groups. In parallel to their precarious domestic situation, Gazans have faced mounting threats of an Israeli offensive in response to cross-border rocket fire by Palestinian militants. The salvoes have persisted despite an Israeli-Palestinian truce struck in November, usually at the hands of militants who said they were not bound by that deal. Shaath blamed Israel for those violations. Palestinians have said Israel's continued military actions in the occupied West Bank -- where the truce does not apply -- provoke militant attacks from Gaza.

ITN Source | May 10, 2007

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