Ref: 50/2006

Date:  13 June 2006

Time: 12:00 GMT 

Serious Escalation in Tensions between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

PCHR strongly condemns the ongoing armed clashes in various areas of the Gaza Strip involving members of the Interior Ministry Executive Force and members of Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades against members of the Preventive Security Apparatus and activists from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.  These clashes are a serious escalation of tensions between Fatah and Hamas, and have resulted in the deaths of two Palestinians and the injury of seventeen others over the past day.  The Centre condemns the repeated attacks on Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) buildings in Ramallah and Salfit and the kidnappings that have been taking place on both sides, including the abduction of a PLC member.

PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 13:10 on Monday, 12 June 2006, armed clashes broke out between members of the Preventive Security and the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades in Rafah.  The clashes resulted in the injury of Hamas member Hammad Hamed Abu Jazar (21) with three bullets to the chest, abdomen and foot.  He was taken to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.  The clashes erupted near the headquarters of the Preventive Security in Rafah during the funeral procession of a Hamas activist, who had been killed a few days earlier during clashes between both sides.

After the death of Abu Jazar was announced, a group from the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades and Interior Ministry Executive Force surrounded the Preventive Security compound in Rafah.  Fierce clashes erupted between both sides.  Automatic weapons, hand grenades and rockets were used in the clashes.  A passerby was killed during the clashes and seventeen others, mostly civilians, were injured.  The civilian killed was Suliman Khamis Zannoun (36), who was deaf.  He was killed by a bullet to the chest.

At the same time these clashes were taking place, an armed group fired at Ayman Mohammad Abu Hatab, a 34-year-old resident of Shaboura refugee camp and a member of the Preventive Security.  He was injured by three bullets to the pelvis and feet.  He was taken to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. The armed group kidnapped him from the hospital and then released him shortly afterwards.  He was taken to Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis after his release due to the severity of his injuries.

At approximately 17:30 on the same day, gunmen from the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades intercepted a civilian vehicle near Ma’an School in Khan Yunis.  Two Preventive Security Officers, Fayez Hasan Qweider (46) and Fathi Abdel Qadir F’seifis (46), were in the car at the time.  The gunmen ordered the officers to get out of the car and surrender their weapons.  Relatives of Qweider intervened in the situation and shots were fired.  Three members of the Qweider clan, including a child, were injured.  At around the same time, gunmen from the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades intercepted another vehicle on the same street.  Five members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed wing of Fatah), including the brother of the commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Khan Yunis, were in the vehicle at the time.  The armed group forced the passengers out of the vehicle and took them to a nearby cemetery.  One of the captives managed to run away.  The rest of the captives were beaten, stripped of their weapons and released half an hour later.

In response to the kidnapping of their colleagues, dozens of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members stormed the house and private clinic of Dr. Salah El-Rantisi at approximately 18:00.  El-Rantisi is the brother of the assassinated Hamas leader Abdel Aziz El-Rantisi.  The incident took place in the Sheikh Naser area of Khan Yunis.  One of the assailants was injured by shrapnel to the foot after firing at the gate.  The assailants destroyed a medical laboratory in the clinic.  The laboratory belonged to a physician from the Al-Astal clan.  Then the assailants abducted El-Rantisi and took him to a nearby house in the El-Qassas area.  They destroyed El-Rantisi’s car.  At approximately 20:30 on the same day, Rantisi was released after intervention from local community leaders.  Hamas members returned the weapons they had confiscated from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The clashes extended to the West Bank.  Dozens of gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades gathered in central Ramallah at approximately 18:00 to protest the incidents in Gaza.  They fired heavily in the air.  Then, they stormed the Palestinian Cabinet building in the El-Maysoun area of Ramallah.  They fired their guns during the attack and set fire to the Palestinian Cabinet archive on the third floor of the building.  In addition, they destroyed windows.  At around the same time, dozens of gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stormed the nearby PLC building.  They fired at the windows and threw stones at the building before storming inside.  They set fire to the southeast section of the ground floor and threw computers out the windows.

An hour later, gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stormed the offices of the “Change and Reform” parliamentary bloc, affiliated with Hamas, in Ramallah.  They abducted PLC member Khalil El-Reb’ei, covering his face and driving off in a car.  He was released less than an hour later.

And at approximately 23:30, unknown gunmen set fire to the PLC offices in Salfit.  The building was destroyed completely.

After the attacks on the PLC buildings in Ramallah and Salfit and the kidnapping of a Hamas lawmaker, Hamas called its supporters to participate in large demonstrations and protests.  The marches took place at around midnight in locations all over the Gaza Strip.

At approximately 23:30, during a Hamas demonstration in El-Bureij refugee camp, the demonstrators shouted slogans against the Preventive Security, calling it a traitorous group.  A member of the Preventive Security fired at the crowd, injuring two demonstrators moderately.  They were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah.

PCHR condemns these clashes, and:

–         points with concern to the continued escalation in the use of arms by Palestinian groups and security services, which is causing a serious deterioration in the state of security chaos currently plaguing the OPT;

–         stresses that these incidents are aggravating the security chaos in the absence of any serious legal action by the PNA to confront the situation;

–         calls upon the PNA, represented by the Attorney-General to seriously investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice; and

–         calls upon all Palestinian factions to engage in dialogue and refrain from using violence and weapons in solving disputes, and to refrain from targeting civilians.