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At least two PA policemen killed in Gaza City gunfight
Jersualem Post ^ | Oct. 2, 2005 22:17 | Khaled Abu Toameh

Posted on 10/02/2005 12:40:32 PM PDT by ScaniaBoy

At least two Palestinian Authority policemen were killed in fierce clashes that erupted on Sunday evening between PA security forces and Hamas gunmen in various parts of the Gaza Strip.

PA security sources said the two victims, including the commander of the Palestinian police station in Shati refugee camp, Ali Makkawi, were killed when hundreds of Hamas gunmen attacked the station with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic gunfire.

They said another 30 people, mostly Hamas members and civilians, were injured in the confrontations. The attackers also set a number of PA police vehicles on fire.

The clashes began in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood when PA policemen tried to search a car belonging to Hamas members led by Muhammed Rantissi, son of slain Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi.

The policemen, according to eyewitnesses, opened fire at the car's wheels when Rantissi and his cohorts refused to hand over their weapons. In the ensuing gun battle, a police officer and two Hamas members were injured.

Hundreds of residents rushed to the scene and pelted the policemen with stones, forcing them to flee the area.

In a similar incident in the same neighborhood, Fatah gunmen and PA policemen briefly exchanged gunfire, but no one was hurt. The clash began when policemen tried to raid the home of a Fatah operative in search of weapons.

Earlier in the day, Fatah gunmen shot and killed a Palestinian taxi driver during a protest against the rising cost of petrol in the Gaza Strip.

The incident took place despite a campaign launched by the PA security forces over the weekend to confiscate illegal weapons in the Gaza Strip. Sources in the Gaza Strip said that many armed groups were continuing to roam the streets, defying the PA ban.

Eyewitnesses said scores of angry drivers blocked a main highway east of Khan Yunis to protest against the recent rise in petrol prices. A number of gunmen belonging to Fatah's armed wing, Aksa Martyrs Brigades, arrived at the scene and ordered the protesters to reopen the road.

When the drivers refused, the gunmen opened fire, killing 36-year-old Yasser Barakeh and injuring three others. In response, hundreds of protesters pelted the gunmen with stones, forcing them to flee the area.

A spokesman for the Fatah militiamen apologized for the killing and claimed that the driver had been shot accidentally. He said the protesters had blocked a main highway, preventing a group of Fatah gunmen from carrying out an "urgent mission." He also accused the drivers of attacking the gunmen and trying to steal their weapons. In another incident, unidentified gunmen hurled a homemade explosive device at the headquarters of the PA Civil Police on Saturday night. No casualties were reported. PA security sources said policemen stationed at the entrance to the compound opened fire toward a suspicious car, but no one was arrested.

In Dir al-Balah, hundreds of unemployed laborers demonstrated outside PA offices to demand jobs and money. The demonstrators raised banners calling on the PA to solve the problem of unemployment and poverty in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the PA and Egypt were trying on Sunday to find a solution for the plight of hundreds of Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing. Tens of thousands of Palestinians crossed into Egypt illegally shortly after the IDF evacuated the Phildelphi corridor along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Most of them have returned to the Gaza Strip, but the Egyptian authorities are refusing to allow several hundred to return home. PA Minister of Communications Sabri Saidam said efforts were underway to reach a deal with the Egyptians allowing the Palestinians to cross back into the Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, unidentified gunmen shot and killed Hani Al-Hilakawi, director of the Al-Fawwar refugee camp west of Hebron. No group claimed responsibility and the motive for the murder was unclear.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: abbas; alaqsamartyrs; civilwar; fatah; gaza; hamas; israel; pa; terror; unrest
Matches (firefights) of the day:

PA vs Hamas
PA vs Fatah
Fatah/Al Aqsa Martyrs vs civilian protesters
PA vs unidentified gunmen
+ murder of Hani Al-Hilakawi, director of the Al-Fawwar refugee camp west of Hebron

An ordinary day with the peaceloving paleostinians.

1 posted on 10/02/2005 12:40:37 PM PDT by ScaniaBoy
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To: SJackson

For your list.


2 posted on 10/02/2005 12:41:10 PM PDT by ScaniaBoy (Part of the Right Wing Research & Attack Machine)
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To: ScaniaBoy
An ordinary day with the peaceloving paleostinians.

There's more to it than just Palestinians fighting amongst themselves.

3 posted on 10/02/2005 1:00:07 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: ScaniaBoy

Gee, sounds like progress in action. The country seems so stable. Of course, all the problems are due to the evil world machinations of the Jooooooooooooooooooos, and their sinister Zionist cabals and weatherchanging machines and whatnot.


4 posted on 10/02/2005 1:05:34 PM PDT by Alexander Rubin (Octavius - You make my heart glad building thus, as if Rome is to be eternal.)
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To: ScaniaBoy

Gee, sounds like progress in action. The country seems so stable. Of course, all the problems are due to the evil world machinations of the Jooooooooooooooooooos, and their sinister Zionist cabals and weatherchanging machines and whatnot.


5 posted on 10/02/2005 1:05:39 PM PDT by Alexander Rubin (Octavius - You make my heart glad building thus, as if Rome is to be eternal.)
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To: FreeReign

Care to expand your comment?


6 posted on 10/02/2005 1:10:11 PM PDT by ScaniaBoy (Part of the Right Wing Research & Attack Machine)
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To: Alexander Rubin
"The country seems so stable."

Hey, it's not like they've had plenty of time and plenty of help and plenty of money. The UN has been working on the "refugee" problem in dear old "Palestine" for decades now.

As with all Big Think liberal ideas, though, the end result is crime, hate, and animalistic violence.

7 posted on 10/02/2005 1:30:24 PM PDT by Reactionary
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To: ScaniaBoy

They need a steel cage match.. to the death!


8 posted on 10/02/2005 2:11:47 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: ScaniaBoy

"Hundreds of residents rushed to the scene and pelted the policemen with stones, forcing them to flee the area."

What do they expect? They have been training them since they were children to rebel, to use violence. So the dogs are doing as they are trained.

Reap what you sow and all that....


9 posted on 10/02/2005 5:53:52 PM PDT by JSteff
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To: ScaniaBoy; SJackson
Good evening.

IMO, the only thing that will bring the Palis into the 21st century (and civilization) would be a civil war. Hopefully with Hamas, Islamic jihad, etc. being totally defeated.

OK, maybe the 20th century...

5.56mm

10 posted on 10/02/2005 5:58:24 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Alexander Rubin
The country seems so stable.

Yeah...maybe the Arabists in the Bush Administration can get these "Peace-Loving re-Settlers" ANOTHER 3 Billion in aid...we have SO much tax money in America we can pi$$ away!

Not like we have any PRESSING ISSUES here at home we need to take care of first...

I guess the pro "Condi for Prez" cadre will be along soon to tell us how we need to support this "Super-Secret Plan" That Bush and Foggy Bottom are pushing...never mind how Bush et al are SCREWING OVER Israel!

11 posted on 10/02/2005 6:03:06 PM PDT by Itzlzha ("The avalanche has already started...it is too late for the pebbles to vote")
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