Two Palestinian Police Wounded in Ambush

Sat Jan 28, 7:45 AM ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas gunmen ambushed a Palestinian police patrol in the Gaza Strip early Saturday, police said, amid mounting tensions following the group's resounding victory over the ruling Fatah Party in parliamentary elections.

A Hamas member and two policemen were wounded in the shooting in the southern town of Khan Younis. One of the officers was shot in the head and remained in a coma Saturday, hospital officials said.

Fatah dominated Palestinian politics for the past 40 years, and there are growing fears the strife could escalate as Hamas activists trying to assert control.

Most Palestinian police are allied with Fatah and fear for their jobs under a Hamas-led government, while Hamas has its own armed force of about 5,000 gunmen in the strip.

On Friday, thousands of Fatah supporters burned cars and shot in the air across the Gaza Strip, demanding the resignation of corrupt party officials and insisting their party refrain from a coalition with Hamas.

President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected last year to a four-year term, said Friday he would ask the Islamic militant group to form the next government. Abbas later fired six Fatah officials.

Israel, caught off guard by the Hamas landslide after its vaunted intelligence services predicted a slim Fatah victory, said it would have no contacts with a Palestinian government that includes the group.

President Bush said Friday in a television interview with "CBS Evening News" that the United States would cut aid to the Palestinian government unless Hamas abolishes the militant arm of its party and stops calling for the destruction of Israel.

Despite international pressure, Hamas leaders said Friday they had no intention of recognizing Israel.

"It's not in our mind now to recognize it as we believe that it's a state that has usurped our land and expelled our people. These issues should be handled before we talk about recognition," deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said from Damascus, Syria.

Hamas held a celebratory rally in Khan Younis on Friday, as supporters waved green party flags and caps and chanted slogans. Hamas gunmen later fired in the air to chase off Fatah activists tearing down Hamas posters and banners in Khan Younis. The incident took place near the local office of the Palestinian Preventive Security, and officers fired toward the Hamas gunmen, wounding one in the leg.

Hamas returned fire, wounding two policeman. At about 1 a.m. Saturday, a Palestinian police patrol in Khan Younis was ambushed by Hamas gunmen, and two officers were wounded, police said. Hamas officials were not immediately available for comment.

Wednesday's election exposed deep tensions within Palestinian society and was a clear rebuke to Fatah for its corruption and inability to maintain order. Before the vote, veteran Fatah leaders, those most tainted by corruption allegations, resisted repeated calls for reform by the Fatah young guard.

On Friday, demonstrators burned cars and shot in the air in front of the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City. About 1,000 angry party activists went to Abbas' house in Gaza, and hundreds of gunmen fired rifles in the air. Abbas was in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time.

The protesters then marched through Gaza City toward the security headquarters, tearing down Hamas election posters and banners and burning tires in the street. A small group called on Abbas to resign.

"We are against joining any coalition with Hamas because this means a disaster for Fatah and the Palestinian people," said Samir Mashrawi, a local Fatah leader who was defeated in the election. "Instead, we want to be a strong opposition and we want to fight and end the corruption of some of Fatah's historical leaders."

About 500 Fatah protesters marched through the West Bank city of Hebron, also calling for the resignation of party leaders.

Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath defended Abbas as the only hope for salvaging the peace process. "His resignation would lead to either total chaos or to Hamas taking over the presidency as well," he told CNN.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he asked Abbas to meet Sunday to discuss forming a government, but Abbas' office said no appointment had been made. Hamas, which has no experience in governing, took 76 of the 132 parliament seats up for grabs.

Ghazi Hamad, one of Hamas' top ideologues, said the group would consider forming a government of technocrats with no connection to Hamas. Such a government might relieve some of the international pressure on the group.

Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings on Israelis, has long called for the destruction of the Jewish state. In recent years, some Hamas leaders grudgingly accepted the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, but only as a stage toward freeing the rest of Palestine - meaning Israel.

Hamas is listed as a terror organization by the United States and the European Union. If the group fails to change its ways, Bush said, "we won't deal with them."

"We won't be providing help to a government that wants to destroy our ally and frien," he told CBS.

Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul-general in Jerusalem, said the United States gives $400 million a year to the Palestinian Authority.

A Palestinian Cabinet minister, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said the government would have to fire 30,000 of its 137,000 employees immediately if aid was cut.

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Associated Press reporter Ravi Nessman contributed to this story from Jerusalem.

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