Five die at Arafat rally in Gaza

GAZA CITY – Five people died when gunfire erupted in Gaza City yesterday as hundreds of thousands gathered to commemorate the death of Yasser Arafat in the biggest Fatah party rally since its ouster by Hamas.

Another 100 people were wounded when the shots rang out after the crowds started chanting ‘Shiite, Shiite’ – accusing the Islamist movement of being a proxy for Shiite Iran and its ally Syria, witnesses and medics said. Palestinian television showed images of groups of protesters and armed men running through the streets and police beating a Fatah supporter with wooden batons.The deaths rubbed salt into the wounds of the already bitter divisions among Palestinians, with the head of the secular Fatah party’s parliamentary bloc saying there would be no dialogue with the Islamists.”There will be no dialogue and no discussions with the killers and coup-makers of Hamas, no dialogue with those who do not believe in dialogue but only understand the language of blood and murder,” Azzam Ahmed said.”I am convinced that the Palestinian people will purge them from their ranks and that the blood of today’s martyrs will be fuel for the resistance against them,” he added, in a statement from his office.Hours earlier the city centre had been filled with a sea of the yellow flags of the party founded by Arafat and currently led by president Mahmud Abbas, whose forces were driven from the Gaza Strip in a bloody June takeover.The crowds waved Palestinian flags and held portraits of the iconic leader in his trademark black-and-white chequered keffiyeh as Fatah party officials called for unity over loudspeakers.Nampa-AFPPalestinian television showed images of groups of protesters and armed men running through the streets and police beating a Fatah supporter with wooden batons.The deaths rubbed salt into the wounds of the already bitter divisions among Palestinians, with the head of the secular Fatah party’s parliamentary bloc saying there would be no dialogue with the Islamists.”There will be no dialogue and no discussions with the killers and coup-makers of Hamas, no dialogue with those who do not believe in dialogue but only understand the language of blood and murder,” Azzam Ahmed said.”I am convinced that the Palestinian people will purge them from their ranks and that the blood of today’s martyrs will be fuel for the resistance against them,” he added, in a statement from his office.Hours earlier the city centre had been filled with a sea of the yellow flags of the party founded by Arafat and currently led by president Mahmud Abbas, whose forces were driven from the Gaza Strip in a bloody June takeover.The crowds waved Palestinian flags and held portraits of the iconic leader in his trademark black-and-white chequered keffiyeh as Fatah party officials called for unity over loudspeakers.Nampa-AFP