Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, compared the
rival party’s actions at the rally with “crimes of the Israeli
occupier”.

He has declared a three-day period of mourning for the
dead and flags flew at half-mast throughout the West Bank, which has
remained under Fatah control since the summer’s violence.

Chaos

A spokesman for Hamas’s Executive Force security teams said troops had detained about 50 Fatah members since the rally.

 

“They are the ones who planned and organised the rally yesterday and
are suspected of being responsible for the chaos that took place,”
Islam Shahwan said.

More than 200,000 people attended Monday’s rally in Gaza
City, making it Fatah’s biggest show of force in the overcrowded
coastal territory since Hamas took control in the summer.

Crowds were dispersing after listening to speeches from Fatah figures now based in the West Bank when the first shots rang out.

At one point hundreds of stone-throwing Fatah activists confronted
Hamas security forces – despite their rivals letting off heavy bursts
of automatic gunfire.

The death of Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, on 11
November 2004 from unidentified causes, deprived Palestinians of a key
unifying figure.

His death was followed by an unprecedented period of
conflict between Palestinian factions, especially between Hamas and
Fatah following the latter’s defeat in parliamentary elections in 2006.