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Hamas offers amnesty on first day of gaza rule { June 15 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4892756.htmlhttp://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4892756.html
June 15, 2007, 7:41AM
Hamas offers amnesty to Fatah leaders
By DIAA HADID Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On its first day of full rule in Gaza, the Islamic militant Hamas on Friday granted amnesty to Fatah leaders, signaling that it seeks conciliation with the defeated forces of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Many had feared more bloodshed, particularly after victorious Hamas gunmen executed several Fatah fighters in the streets gangland-style on Thursday, in the final phase of the decisive five-day battle over Gaza.
Gazans awoke to the new reality of Hamas control Friday, fraught with uncertainty and fear that they'll become even poorer and more isolated. Gaza's crossings with Egypt and Israel — lifelines for the fenced-in territory — have been closed this week, and it was not clear if they would reopen. Extended closure could quickly lead to a humanitarian crisis.
A Hamas spokesman said Palestinian police, now under Hamas command, would take up positions at the crossings, but it's unlikely Israel would acquiesce to such a deployment, after Hamas militants frequently attacked the passages in the past.
The Palestinian territories are in effect split in two. Gaza is now controlled by Hamas, which has close ties to Syria and Iran. The more populous West Bank, with about 2 million residents to Gaza's 1.4 million, is dominated by the more moderate Fatah, which has ties to Israel and the West.
Gaza's streets, deserted in the past week, were crowded with cars, pedestrians and triumphant Hamas fighters, some driving in jeeps and firing in the air. Crowds converged on former Fatah strongholds and looted them.
A resident of a Hamas-dominated neighborhood, identifying himself only as Yousef for fear of reprisal by his neighbors, said Gazans would always back the winner, regardless of ideology.
"Today everybody is with Hamas because Hamas won the battle. If Fatah had won the battle they'd be with Fatah. We are a hungry people, we are with whoever gives us a bag of flour and a food coupon," said Yousef, 30. "Me, I'm with God and a bag of flour."
The house of former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan of Fatah was overrun, and looters stripped it of everything from windows and doors to flowerpots. "This was the house of the murderer Dahlan that was cleansed by the holy warriors," read graffiti sprayed on the wall. Donkey carts outside the house waited to take on more loot.
Because Fatah recognizes Israel and past peace agreements, a boycott of the Palestinian government imposed by Israel and the international community after Hamas' electoral successes may no longer apply to the West Bank — only Gaza.
Abbas named his own prime minister — Salam Fayyad, an independent who is well-respected by the international community.
Gaza City's main Shifa Hospital was still grappling with the aftermath of battle. More than 90 people were killed in five days of fighting, and dozens wounded. The morgue was overflowing, with four bodies lined up on the floor, and some of the wounded were sleeping on cardboard on the floor, instead of mattresses or beds.
The buildings that symbolized Fatah's power, the National Security headquarters, Abbas' residence, were guarded by Hamas men. Outside Abbas' residence, a boy draped a green Hamas flag over a low wall as a Hamas guard looked on smiling.
Earlier Friday, Hamas announced it had arrested 10 of the most senior Fatah leaders in the strip, including the commanders of Abbas' own elite guard unit and the chief of the National Security force. However, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeideh later declared an amnesty for all Fatah leaders, and several Fatah leaders, including spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, were released shortly afterwards.
Abu Obeideh said his group will "offer amnesty" to all those who are with different opinions. "Our battle is not with Fatah ... but with the group that tried to implement an external agenda," he said.
However, Hamas also said that a Fatah supporter was thrown to his death by the family of a man he was accused of having killed earlier. Elsewhere, a senior Fatah official committed suicide after learning he was on Hamas' wanted list, Fatah said.
Abu Obeideh also called for the immediate release of Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist who was kidnapped in March and is believed held by a powerful Gaza clan whose members had ties to both Hamas and Fatah. "We will not allow for his continued detention," Abu Obeideh said of Johnston.
The battle for Gaza ended Thursday night when Hamas forces took the last Fatah stronghold, the seaside office complex of Abbas. The Fatah forces had collapsed quickly under Hamas' systematic onslaught. One by one, Hamas seized Fatah's security installations and marched once-feared Fatah fighters down the street shirtless and with hands raised.
From his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abbas declared a state of emergency Thursday, firing the Hamas-led government and its prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.
Haniyeh brushed off Abbas' decision, calling it "hasty" and refusing to leave office. He said Friday the Islamic organization was still committed to unity agreements it signed with Fatah.
The European Union offered its support for Abbas, and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner called him "the legitimate president of all Palestinians."
Fearful that Hamas' momentum could spread to the West Bank, Fatah-allied forces staged a show of force. Palestinian security forces, some wearing black ski masks, drove through Ramallah in pickup trucks, rifles raised.
In the city of Nablus, Fatah men shot dead a Hamas member early Friday, Hamas said, the first to be killed in the West Bank. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent Fatah offshoot, claimed responsibility. On Thursday, angry Fatah militants trashed an office of Hamas lawmakers in Nablus.
But in Gaza, Thursday was a day of triumph for Hamas and its backers in Iran and Syria — and of devastation for Fatah.
No battle was more indicative of Gaza's hatreds and passions than the one at Preventive Security headquarters, one of Fatah's four main security bases in the strip.
Preventive Security carried out a brutal crackdown on Hamas in 1996, and the militants never forgot it. Witnesses, Fatah officials and a doctor reported gangland-style killings of the defeated fighters Thursday.
Fatah officials, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said Hamas shot dead seven Fatah fighters after they had surrendered. A doctor at Shifa Hospital said he examined two bodies that had been shot in the head at close range. Hamas denied it carried out executions.
The stage for the struggle between Fatah and Hamas was set last year, when Hamas won parliamentary elections. Hamas reluctantly brought Fatah into a coalition government in March to quell an earlier round of violence, but the uneasy partnership began crumbling last month over control of security forces.
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