Fatah storms Hamas parliament

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Fatah gunmen took aim at Hamas rivals in the West Bank yesterday, storming the Hamas-led parliament and ransacking offices of the Islamist group amid fears that last week's fighting in the Gaza Strip could trigger a wider reprisal campaign here.

No deaths were reported during a host of incidents around the West Bank, which came despite Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to rein in militants affiliated with his Fatah party.

Fatah still holds sway in the West Bank, but its forces were overpowered in the Gaza fighting, leaving Hamas in sole control of the seaside strip of land.

An emergency Cabinet is to be sworn today in the West Bank, just days after Hamas seized control of Gaza and Abbas dismantled the Hamas-Fatah coalition government in response.

Abbas issued a decree just after midnight annulling a law requiring the new government to be approved by parliament, which is dominated by Hamas. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the decree was illegal.

Palestinian officials said preventing outbreaks of Gaza-style violence will be the priority of the emergency Cabinet. Four days of clashes between armed camps in Gaza killed at least 90 people and deepened worries over the possibility of civil war.

"We have told the security forces to quell any attempt to attack people or offices, regardless of their affiliation, and to use force, if necessary," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, an Abbas ally who is secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The new Cabinet, the authority of which might effectively be limited to the West Bank, will exclude Hamas. It will be headed by Salam Fayyad, a moderate lawmaker and former finance minister who is respected by the United States and Israel.

On Thursday, after Hamas finished its rout in Gaza, Abbas declared a state of emergency and fired Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas. But Hamas insists that Haniyeh is still head of the Palestinian government, thus creating competing authorities and deepening the divide between the West Bank and Gaza.

Many Palestinians fear the violence might erase the chance of merging the two areas, which are separated by Israel, into a future state. The split, however, could make it easier for the United States and other Western nations to restore aid to a Palestinian government without Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction. The United States and European Union consider Hamas a terrorist group and cut off aid after it won parliamentary elections last year.

The US consul-general in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, met with Abbas yesterday, and indicated that he expected the United States would renew aid soon after the new Palestinian government is formed.

In another boost for Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that the new Palestinian government would create a "new opportunity" for the peace process. Olmert has long welcomed Abbas as a negotiating partner, but said Abbas's alliance with Hamas made peacemaking virtually impossible.

"We have a new opportunity . . . that we haven't had in a long time," Olmert told reporters on board his plane shortly before taking off for a meeting with President Bush in Washington.

"The situation has changed, which enables diplomatic progress. . . . We intend to act to take advantage of this situation," he said.

Factional violence in the West Bank has been limited in scope and severity, even though Fatah's militias have a huge advantage over Hamas in the number of fighters and weapons. But the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades linked to Fatah are loosely organized and prone to acting on their own, making it more difficult to prevent assaults against Hamas.

During previous rounds of fighting, whenever Hamas delivered a blow in Gaza, Fatah answered in the West Bank. Its gunmen abducted Hamas activists or shot at the Parliament building and headquarters of the Cabinet, until last week led by Hamas.

In the West Bank yesterday, Fatah gunmen stormed the Parliament building in Ramallah and accosted lawmaker Hassan Khreisheh, an independent endorsed by Hamas. Khreisheh, who holds the position of second deputy speaker in Parliament, said he believed the men planned to abduct him but that Fatah leaders intervened and the attackers left.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Fatah gunmen set fire to Hamas-affiliated offices in Nablus and raided the municipality building, hoisting the Fatah flag. They instructed employees from Hamas not to return and said they would name a committee to run the municipality. There were also reports that seven Hamas activists were abducted in Nablus.

In Al Eizariyeh, near Jerusalem, dozens of men raided the offices of an Islamic trust and kicked out employees. In Bethlehem, attackers set fire to the bookstore of a Hamas member of the City Council and ransacked his home.

Gaza remained relatively calm for a second day after ferocious fighting that had spanned the length of the impoverished enclave. Looters ransacked the home of the late Yasser Arafat and overran a police outpost once operated by Fatah on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing with Israel.

The Erez portal is the main route for people between Israel and Gaza but has been closed for days due to the fighting.

Reaching out to his vanquished foes, Haniyeh named two former commanders from Fatah to head the police and national security branches.

Hamas has vowed to restore law and order in Gaza, where militant factions, criminal gangs, and private armies have carried out abductions and killings with impunity.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.