WEST BANK/GAZA: Thousands march in rallies across the West Bank, as funerals are held for victims of yesterday's demonstration in Gaza

Thousands of Palestinian Fatah supporters demonstrated across the West Bank in protest of the violence which marred a rally Monday (November 12) in Gaza, where seven people were killed, and scores were injured. The assembly on Monday, which drew approximately 200,000 people, marked the third anniversary of the death of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. It was also the largest demonstration held by President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group in Gaza since Hamas Islamists seized the territory by force in June. The rare Fatah show of strength in the Gaza Strip broke up in chaos after gunfire rang out. Seven civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed and 80 people wounded, medical officials said. Fatah officials accused Hamas forces of opening fire at the crowd without provocation. Hamas said its men fired after coming under attack from Fatah gunmen hiding inside the nearby Islamic University. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, preparing for a U.S.-hosted conference with Israel later this month on Palestinian statehood, has ruled out new dialogue with Hamas until the group relinquishes control of the Gaza Strip. He declared three days of mourning for the Gaza dead and ordered flags to fly at half-mast in the occupied West Bank, where Fatah holds sway. In Gaza, families and friends of those killed, began to bury their dead on Tuesday (November 13). Thousands marched through the streets of Gaza City and Khan Younis during massive funeral processions. Families of those killed mourned their losses. "They are infidels, I apologise my lord and if am wrong may you punish me God, these people are beyond infidels. They represent the profit? Between them and the profit is God," said one woman in Khan Younis. "He was a fighter always on the border. This is his end, instead of dying on the hands of the occupation, and to be a martyr," one man in Gaza City said, as he prepared his cousin's body for its funeral. Hamas rounded up dozens of Fatah activists in Gaza Monday night after the rally, Hamas officials said.

ITN Source | November 13, 2007

Tags:. .processions. .losses. .scores. .protest. .profit