GAZA: Palestinian policemen deployed in Gaza streets after rivals agreed to ease tension

Palestinian policemen were deployed in Gaza streets to maintain calm after rival factions agreed early on Saturday (October 28) to work together to ease tension that had soared after the governing Hamas group accused some loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas of plotting a "coup attempt". The Islamist group made the accusation in a statement on Friday (October 27), saying the Abbas loyalists planned to storm some public buildings on Saturday. It did not accuse Abbas himself. While Hamas provided no evidence of a plot and officials from Abbas's Fatah dismissed it as lies, the accusation underlined the increasingly bitter and violent power struggle. The rivals reached agreement at a meeting in Gaza to keep all their gunmen off the streets on Saturday and allow only the police to patrol. The struggle between Hamas and Fatah has intensified in the weeks since they failed to agree on a coalition government. Many Palestinians expect it to come to a head now the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan is over. At least 20 people have been killed in recent internal violence, prompting fears of civil war. Talks on a unity government collapsed because Hamas and Fatah could not agree on terms that might have led to an easing of the Western aid embargo, which is designed to push Hamas to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past accords. Abbas, a moderate, wanted an agreement that would have at least imply recognition of Israel. Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, said it would never recognise Israel even implicitly. But both sides tend to agree that a unity government is the most probable possible solution to the tense situation."We support a unity government," Haniyeh told Reuters Television in Gaza on his way to a meeting. Tensions have been exacerbated by the worsening economic situation as a result of the embargo. That has led to strikes and protests by some government workers and members of the security forces, dominated by Fatah.

ITN Source | October 29, 2006

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