Fatah gunmen storm Red Crescent building in Gaza in violent protest
AUGUST 7
Fatah gunmen storm Red Crescent building in Gaza in violent protest
By Reuters
Gunmen stormed a building in the Gaza Strip owned by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and fired in the air yesterday after masked men took away a top official from the dominant Fatah movement.
The incident was the latest sign of internal unrest in the territory, a week before Israel starts withdrawing all settlers and soldiers from the Strip.
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The gunmen from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, took over the building used as a hotel in the southern town of Khan Yunis and also told shopkeepers to close their stores. They said they were protesting after senior official Suleiman al-Fara was taken away by men they believed to have come from the Preventive Security Service, a powerful internal security agency.
"We will continue to carry out our protest activities and we are prepared to carry out things beyond imagination," said one of the gunmen.
The Preventive Security Service did not comment on whether it had detained Fara.
Tension between the various forces in the Gaza Strip grew last week after Fatah activists began training what they called a "popular army," which they said would help to keep law and order.
Officials close to Abbas, who has been under pressure at home and abroad to slim down security services and disarm the proliferating militias, had said the Fatah force did not have approval.
The Red Crescent did not comment on the seizure of the building, next door to a hospital.
Fatah gunmen storm Red Crescent building in Gaza in violent protest
By Reuters
Gunmen stormed a building in the Gaza Strip owned by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and fired in the air yesterday after masked men took away a top official from the dominant Fatah movement.
The incident was the latest sign of internal unrest in the territory, a week before Israel starts withdrawing all settlers and soldiers from the Strip.
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The gunmen from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, took over the building used as a hotel in the southern town of Khan Yunis and also told shopkeepers to close their stores. They said they were protesting after senior official Suleiman al-Fara was taken away by men they believed to have come from the Preventive Security Service, a powerful internal security agency.
"We will continue to carry out our protest activities and we are prepared to carry out things beyond imagination," said one of the gunmen.
The Preventive Security Service did not comment on whether it had detained Fara.
Tension between the various forces in the Gaza Strip grew last week after Fatah activists began training what they called a "popular army," which they said would help to keep law and order.
Officials close to Abbas, who has been under pressure at home and abroad to slim down security services and disarm the proliferating militias, had said the Fatah force did not have approval.
The Red Crescent did not comment on the seizure of the building, next door to a hospital.
posted by solitarioh2005 @ 5:18 PM
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