Gaza under state of emergency

JERUSALEM - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the Palestinian government yesterday and declared a state of emergency after rival Hamas forces took complete control of the Gaza Strip in what the Islamic movement called the territory's "liberation."

In a presidential decree, Abbas fired Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and suggested that new national elections would occur soon. Abbas' decision ends the three-month-old power-sharing arrangement between his Fatah movement and Hamas, the two main Palestinian factions.

Haniyeh, in a response delivered early today, said Abbas had not considered the "consequences" of his decision and pledged to continue to work with his Fatah "brothers." Other Hamas officials said Abbas' ruling had no legal effect.

Hamas' military victory, after five days of fighting that left nearly 100 Palestinians dead, has deepened the political and cultural separation between the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip, many of whose 1.4 million residents are poor refugees, and the more populous West Bank, Fatah's power base.

The territorial cornerstones of a future Palestinian state have been reduced to strongholds of each faction. A Hamas radio station quoted fighters ysterday as saying their military campaign was the first step in establishing an Islamic state in Gaza, an assertion party officials denied.

"Gaza is out of control, and in my mind it's a coup that has happened there," said Saeb Erekat, a Fatah lawmaker from the West Bank who is the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel.

Haniyeh struck a reassuring tone in his speech, saying Gaza "is an indivisible part of the Palestinian homeland."

Abbas failed to act on previous threats to dissolve the Hamas-led cabinet, and his move to do so now underscores the sense of crisis facing the Palestinian national movement.

His decision came after Hamas forces seized Fatah-controlled security compounds in Gaza City and the southern city of Rafah. At least 25 Palestinians died yesterday in fighting that stretched across the strip.

At day's end, masked Hamas fighters declared their swift rout of Fatah forces "the second liberation of Gaza," a reference to Israel's September 2005 evacuation of settlements and military positions.

"This is a victory not only for Hamas, but for all Palestinians," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

Until Abbas' decision, Fatah leaders had been grasping for ways to end the factional fighting, which officials from both parties have called civil war.

Hamas, an armed Islamic movement that does not recognize Israel, and Fatah, a secular party that does, have fought periodically since Hamas defeated Fatah in January 2006 parliamentary elections. Hamas took control of the Palestinian ministries, prompting Western donors such as the United States and the European Union, which classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, to impose a financial embargo against the government. Abbas, a relative moderate, remained the government's titular head, with the power to fire the prime minister.

The parties have since battled, almost always within the Gaza Strip, for control of the various Palestinian security services that each claims the legal authority to run. The majority of those killed in recent days have belonged the parties' armed wings or affiliated security services. Ideological differences have also proved intractable.

This week's fighting marked a sharp escalation in intensity, brutality and ambition on the part of Hamas forces, whose leaders have accused Fatah's security services of working on behalf of Israeli and American interests because of a $40 million U.S. aid package to strengthen Abbas' forces.

The Israeli government has openly supported Fatah forces against Hamas, whose tightening control of Gaza alarmed Israeli defense officials.

Early yesterday, Abbas ordered his presidential guard corps to take the offensive against Hamas forces. The order had little practical effect, as Hamas fighters far outnumber the guard in Gaza.

But it signaled Abbas' willingness to join the widening factional fight as some units loyal to Fatah were running out of ammunition, surrendering en masse, and demolishing posts rather than turning them over to Hamas.

Around midday, Hamas forces seized the Fatah-run Preventive Security headquarters in Gaza City, a major strategic and symbolic step for the movement. The Preventive Security Service was established in the early 1990s by Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah leader from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis who is now Abbas' national security adviser, after Fatah backed the Oslo accords with Israel.

Hamas opposed the agreement, which established the Palestinian Authority. At the time, Preventive Security agents rounded up scores of Hamas followers; many later said they were tortured.

In the violence yesterday, witnesses said, Hamas gunmen led Fatah officers from the building at gunpoint, some shirtless and some injured, with hands raised. Hospital officials said at least 14 people were killed and 70 wounded in the fight for Preventive Security headquarters.

Hours later, marching methodically toward the sea, Hamas gunmen overran the main Palestinian intelligence headquarters in Gaza City. The presidential guard compound and a nearby Palestinian National Forces post fell just after midnight.

The European Union yesterday suspended

its humanitarian-aid projects in Gaza as Hamas moved closer to taking control of the area. The EU also called for a "humanitarian truce" to allow for evacuating the injured.

The bloc favors Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, whose Fatah movement is seen in Europe as more moderate and open to dialogue about creating a Palestinian state next to Israel.

EU humanitarian efforts

in Gaza and the

West Bank totaled

$110 million last year.

- Associated Press

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