Hamas to grant amnesty to Fatah leaders

Source: AP, 15-6-2007
On its first day of full rule in Gaza, the occupation-resistance group Hamas announced Friday that it is granting amnesty to senior Fatah leaders, signaling that it is seeking conciliation with the defeated forces of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas also said Palestinian security forces, now under its command, would take control of Gaza`s crossing with Egypt, which was monitored by European observers until the last decisive battle for Gaza erupted earlier this week.
Gazans awoke to a new reality Friday, fraught with uncertainty and fear that they`ll become even poorer and more isolated. Streets were quiet after five days of intense fighting in which the Islamic militants seized the crowded and chaotic territory from their Fatah rivals.
Earlier Friday, Hamas announced it had arrested 10 of the most senior Fatah leaders in the strip, including the commanders of President Mahmoud Abbas` own elite guard unit and the chief of the National Security force.
However, movement spokesman Abu Obdeideh later declared an amnesty for all Fatah leaders. Shortly after the announcement, three Fatah leaders were released.
Hundreds of people swarmed through the unoccupied house of Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan after his neighborhood fell to Hamas, stripping everything, including windows, doors and flowerpots.
Outside Gaza City`s Shifa Hospital, taxi driver Nader Susi, 31, sat on the curb, puffing on a cigarette. "I don`t know what`s coming," he said. "I think I will make even less money now."
Inside the hospital, the morgue was overflowing, with four bodies lying on the ground. More than 90 people were killed in the fighting. Some of Dahlan's officials had fled by boat, according to Fatah sources.
Dahlan's forces collapsed under the onslaught by Hamas, which showed superior organization and motivation. One by one, Hamas seized Dahlan`s security installations and marched once-feared Dahlan's 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. The situation was "not suitable for unilateral decisions," he said.
On Thursday, angry Fatah militants trashed an office of Hamas lawmakers in Nablus.
Abbas said Thursday he would install a new government. That decree will not reverse the Hamas takeover of Gaza, but might let Fatah consolidate its control over the West Bank, paving the way for two separate Palestinian governments.
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.
"The fact that President Abbas has fired the Hamas government is a very positive move in our opinion, and makes it easier to deal with and help the moderates," Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Friday.
Some 2 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, while 1.4 million reside in Gaza.