Gazans Pray Outside, Defying Warnings by Hamas

New York Times ^ | September 1, 2007 | Steven Erlanger

[Lorianne]

Defying warnings from Hamas, several thousand Gazans prayed outside mosques on Friday in a Fatah-inspired protest.

As Hamas police officers and gunmen watched, a large crowd prayed in a large public square in Gaza City during Friday Prayer, responding to a call from Fatah to stay out of the mosques. In a statement, Fatah accused Hamas of “exploiting mosques to inflame tensions and provocations among factions.” Israel, similarly, regularly accuses Hamas of using Friday Prayer to incite hatred of Israel and Jews.

Dozens of young men shouted “Shiites, Shiites,” a common insult to Hamas, which receives some support from Shiite-dominated Iran. Palestinians are mostly Sunni Muslims.

After prayers, there was an organized anti-Hamas march and clashes with uniformed Hamas gunmen, some of whom tried to disperse the crowd by firing in the air and beating some people with sticks. About 10 protesters were lightly wounded, some when a stun grenade detonated in the crowd. The grenade also wounded a French journalist in the hand.

A similar demonstration was held in the southern town of Rafah, where as many as 5,000 people attended outdoor prayers. There, stones were thrown at the home of a prominent Hamas figure, and Hamas police officers used stun grenades and fired into the air.

This week Hamas sent text messages to a number of cellphones. The message said, according to Agence France-Presse: “Attending prayers with Fatah will cause you a lot of problems and we advise you to pray elsewhere. You don’t deserve to be hit, arrested or killed for a corrupt gang that you know well.”

[Max in Utah]

Here's an interesting book which, while fiction, gives the reader some background on the "palistinian" situation:

The Haj by Leon Uris

[SunkenCiv]

Fatah accused Hamas of "exploiting mosques to inflame tensions and provocations among factions." Israel, similarly, regularly accuses Hamas of using Friday Prayer to incite hatred of Israel and Jews. Dozens of young men shouted "Shiites, Shiites," a common insult to Hamas, which receives some support from Shiite-dominated Iran. Palestinians are mostly Sunni Muslims.

In a joint communique, Fatah and Hamas reassured Arabs that it's still okay to exploit mosques to inflame tensions and provocations towards non-Moslems.

[pacelvi]

i always find it amusing how only Muslims can be made violent from attending their religious services.