More than 70 Palestinian Authority Arabs in Gaza were wounded in clashes between Fatah and Hamas terrorists on Friday.
Fatah men tried to hold Friday prayers in public Friday, as ordered by Fatah chief and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas deployed members of its newly established armed forces with clubs to bludgeon the rebels.
Four Fatah men were injured by a small bomb thrown into one of the Fatah protests in southern Gaza.
Seven journalists were also beaten, including local stringers for international news agencies. Fatah and Hamas both boast several news agencies and scores of journalists affiliated with each group are employed by news agencies such as Reuters and the Associated Press. AP quoted one journalist who said a member of Hamas’s Executive Force told him he would be killed if footage of the clashes appeared on TV.
The Foreign Press Association has called upon Hamas to end its systematic harassment of journalists.
Hamas also arrested senior Fatah officials who have remained in Gaza, according to Fatah sources. Hamas said its forces had arrested two officials who had instigated riots and released them later Friday.
Fatah terrorist Tarazan Doghmush, who used to work for the Fatah security forces when the group ruled Gaza, was found dead Friday. Fatah claimed that Hamas killed him.
Israeli-Arab Leader Calls For Unity
Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement’s northern branch, said Friday that Hamas and Fatah must reunite in order to battle the Jewish State. "I am turning to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to the Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and swear you in Allah's name, in the name of the masses present here, in the name of our children and elders and in the name of the martyrs - to renew the Palestinian dialogue. I call on you to establish a Palestinian unity government and to keep to the Mecca agreement. Jerusalem and Al Aksa [the Temple Mount –ed.] call you, do not let down their call.”
Salah was indicted on charges of incitement to violence after he called upon Israel’s Arabs to launch an Intifada to protect the Temple Mount from the Jews.