Abbas escapes Gaza gun attack
Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas escaped unharmed after gunmen firing assault rifles burst into a tent in Gaza City where he was greeting people who came to mourn Yasser Arafat.
It represents a grim sign that efforts to prevent chaos during the transition may not succeed.
The shooting yesterday, in which two security guards died and six other people were wounded, raised grave concerns about a violent power struggle in the post-Arafat era.
Some of the gunmen shouted slogans calling Abbas an agent of the United States.
The violence came just hours after Palestinian officials set January 9 as the date for elections to choose a new leader – the first vote in nine years.
Abbas’ temporary Palestinian leadership has been trying to send a message of unity since Arafat’s death on Thursday.
Arafat’s responsibilities have been divided among several leaders, and officials held talks with rival factions in Arafat’s Fatah movement and the militant opposition groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
But those rivalries burst into the open minutes after Abbas entered the Gaza City mourning tent, where about 10,000 people – including about 3,000 armed men, most of them police officers – gathered last evening.
Abbas, accompanied by Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan and surrounded by security guards, shook hands with mourners.
Moments later, at least 20 gunmen, their assault rifles held high, barged into the tent, shouting “Abbas and Dahlan are agents for the Americans.”
Gunfire then popped through the tent. It appears most of the shots were fired in the air – the casualty toll would likely have been far higher had the gunmen taken aim at the large crowd.
Abbas’ bodyguards hustled him into a corner as frightened mourners scrambled over plastic chairs to flee. Abbas was taken to Palestinian headquarters.
Speaking to reporters there, Abbas tried to play down the incident, insisting that it was not an assassination attempt.
“While we were receiving condolences, a huge crowd gathered there and then random shooting broke out, but not in my direction,” he said.
He said he planned to continue talks with rival Palestinian factions. Abbas tried in the past, as prime minister, to persuade militants to halt attacks on Israel, and he succeeded briefly.
Militants signalled yesterday that they are not interested in a new ceasefire.
In a parade in Gaza City, masked militants unveiled a new rocket, which they claimed had an extended range that could reach the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
The long, green “Al-Yasser 1” rocket, named after Arafat, was shown to a cheering crowd.
