Deaths Are First in Two Weeks to Result From Factional Fighting
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 4, 2007
JERUSALEM, Jan. 3 -- Renewed factional fighting Wednesday between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements in the Gaza Strip killed five Palestinians, including a 22-year-old woman. More than 10 others were wounded.
The deaths were the first in two weeks as a result of partisan violence, which has spiked periodically over the past year during times of political tension. The fighting brought angry recriminations from leaders of both parties, indicating an end to the short period of calm in Gaza as talks to resolve the political stalemate remain stalled.
In the most brazen act, gunmen opened fire on a car and killed three men belonging to a security service loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a leader of the secular Fatah party that lost parliamentary elections to Hamas almost a year ago. Fatah leaders blamed Hamas, a radical Islamic movement that does not recognize Israel, for the ambush in the Gaza city of Khan Younis.
A gunman from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's armed wing, was fatally shot north of Gaza City. The woman, Mona Salha, died after being wounded with about a dozen others caught in a Hamas-Fatah skirmish in the same area.
After failing to form a power-sharing government with Hamas acceptable to international donors, who provide nearly half the Palestinian government's annual budget, Abbas announced last month that he intends to call early elections, including for his own office. But he has yet to set a date for the vote, which Hamas officials have called an illegal attempt to overturn their election victory.
Also in Gaza on Wednesday, colleagues of a kidnapped Peruvian photographer with Agence France-Presse warned that his life is in danger unless he receives heart medication soon. Jaime Razuri, 50, was taken Monday by armed men outside the agency's Gaza offices. The agency's office manager, Sakher Abu El-Awn, told Reuters that Razuri is suffering from a heart disease that requires regular medication.
"We believe his life is at serious risk, and we urge his captors to release him immediately," Abu El-Awn told the agency.
In another development, an Israeli woman sentenced to three years in prison for aiding a Palestinian group that Israel considers a terrorist organization was released Wednesday after serving 26 months of her term.
Tali Fahima pleaded guilty in December 2005 to having contacts with a foreign agent, passing information to the enemy and violating the law prohibiting Israelis from entering areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The charges stemmed from her association with Zakaria Zubeidi, leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin, whom she said she would protect as a "human shield."
Fahima spent 13 months in jail without being charged -- a status known as administrative detention -- before pleading guilty. That time was counted toward her sentence. Her term was to expire in November, but she was released early for good behavior.
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