By KARIN LAUB
The Associated Press
Sunday, February 11, 2007; 2:50 PM
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Khamis Bakr demands revenge. The local Fatah leader's 16-year-old nephew was killed by Hamas gunmen in one of Gaza's recent street battles, and Bakr wants to even the score, despite last week's Saudi-brokered truce between the two rivals. Bakr, 35, said he'll always put the interest of his family before that of his party.
Unfinished business between Gaza's powerful clans is one of the main threats to the power-sharing agreement signed last week between the Islamic militant group Hamas and the Fatah movement of the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Despite assurances by Hamas and Fatah leaders that they are putting months of deadly factional fighting behind them, resentment and mistrust still run high. And the agreement risks unraveling even before being implemented because of Hamas's failure to accept international demands to recognize Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday he did not believe the agreement met conditions for lifting a painful international aid boycott of the Palestinian Authority, imposed after Hamas won elections, according to a participant in a weekly Cabinet meeting.
In Gaza City, graffiti on the smoke-blackened walls of Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold trashed earlier this month by Abbas-allied security forces, reflected festering anger.
"The president's people are destroyers," read one slogan on the scorched wall of the computer lab. The attackers, who caused $15 million in damage, according to Hamas, left behind messages of their own, including this spray-painted warning: "The Presidential Guard will show no mercy."
In Gaza City's beachside neighborhoods, hardest hit by the battles, life has largely returned to normal since Thursday's agreement in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
On a recent day, streets were congested, shops opened, and members of the security forces lounged in plastic garden chairs on sidewalks, rather than standing watch behind sandbags. One motorist washed his car on the street in a show of optimism and some residents ordered glass to replace broken windows.
But no one was relaxing too much yet.
Huge metal tripods blocked roads near Abbas' compound to keep away cars. In the ocean-view Rimal neighborhood, the owners of a 14-story apartment building added three more rows of cement blocks to their garden wall and installed a large metal gate to keep out gunmen.
During the last round of fighting, Hamas militiamen took over the rooftop of the building as part of a race between rival groups for control of strategic positions. Iman Husseini, one of the residents of the building, said she had pleaded with the gunmen to leave, to no avail.
At one point, the Hamas fighters opened fire on Abbas-allied officers at a gas station across the street, killing a 16-year-old bystander, Mohammed Bakr, according to the victim's relatives.
The shooting triggered three days of clashes between the Hamas men on the roof and members of the Bakr clan, most allied with Fatah. The 3,500-strong Bakr clan lives in several blocks near the high-rise, and during the fighting set up makeshift roadblocks at the entrances to neighborhood alleys to control traffic.
Khamis Bakr, the local Fatah leader, said Saturday that despite the Mecca truce, the clan will not rest until justice is done.
"We are happy with the agreement," Bakr said. "We hope that our son will be the last victim. But the family still wants the blood of Mohammed to be avenged. Hamas has to hand over the killers, either to the family or to a court."
With Gaza's judiciary barely functioning, it is unlikely any of those involved in killings would be brought before a court. Factions would also balk at handing over their fighters, particularly since it would be almost impossible to determine who did what in the chaotic battles.
Another option is to pay compensation to the bereaved families, in line with Islamic law. In Gaza, the going rate per victim is $47,000. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said in a speech last month that the families of victims could be compensated.
Bakr declined to say what steps he might take to avenge his nephew's death.
Leaders from Hamas, Fatah and smaller factions acknowledged Saturday that clan revenge for dozens of victims could easily bring down the Mecca agreement.
"Hamas and Fatah have agreed to halt their fire, and that's a beginning, but now they must hurry" to quell possible revenge acts, said Khaled Batch, a leader of the small Islamic Jihad group not involved in the fighting. Islamic Jihad said it has already settled eight family claims involving killings.
Abbas on Friday announced the formation of a reconciliation committee to address unsettled scores. "It is important to deal with the families," said Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Fatah spokesman. Both Abu Khoussa and Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said they were confident the two factions can keep their supporters in line.
In coming days, Abbas and Haniyeh are to move quickly to form a coalition government. Under the deal, Hamas gets nine Cabinet seats, Fatah gets six, independents are given five portfolios and small factions get four. Haniyeh remains prime minister.
However, the deal could fall apart if Israel and the international community refuse to lift the aid boycott, citing Hamas' failure to reform.
Olmert said Sunday his government had "urgent consultations" over the weekend, but had not yet decided how to respond to the Palestinian deal.
"We, like the international community, are studying what exactly was achieved, what was said, and what is the basis on which the agreement rests, if it exists, and if it's complete," Olmert said before his weekly Cabinet meeting.
After countless broken cease-fires, skepticism in the Palestinians territories remains strong.
"There is a lot of mistrust," said Bakr, the local Fatah chief. "If it (the Mecca deal) lasts for six months, it is a good agreement."
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Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.
