MB Civic

JERUSALEM, June 12 — Hundreds of Palestinian security personnel loyal to the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, went on a rampage Monday night in the West Bank town of Ramallah, attacking the parliament and cabinet buildings controlled by his rivals in the Hamas-led government.

The attack by forces from the Fatah faction loyal to Mr. Abbas, who fired bullets at the buildings and set them on fire, came after Hamas gunmen attacked the Gaza headquarters of the Fatah-dominated security forces with rockets and grenades.

The Ramallah buildings were not occupied at the time, but the fire gutted a floor of one of the two cabinet buildings after the security forces, joined by gunmen from Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, part of the Fatah movement, shot out the windows of the parliament building and tried to prevent firefighters from entering the area.

In the growing violence between the major Palestinian factions, at least 2 people were killed and 15 wounded in the fighting in Gaza. In Ramallah, a member of the security forces told The Associated Press, “Every time they touch one of ours in Gaza, we will get 10 of theirs in the West Bank.”

Mr. Abbas declared a state of emergency and ordered people off the streets on a chaotic and violent day. The Palestinian leader, who advocates negotiation with Israel, is facing increasing political isolation, especially in the wake of Friday’s killing of seven members of a Palestinian family on a Gaza beach, apparently by an errant Israeli shell. The deaths have strengthened Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel’s legitimacy.

The Hamas majority in parliament decided Monday to allow dialogue between the factions to continue on a unified political platform, hoping to make a referendum called by Mr. Abbas for July 26 unnecessary.

Hamas had called the emergency session of the legislature to challenge the referendum on a document drafted by Palestinian prisoners calling for a Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders, implicitly recognizing Israel.

Hamas opposes the referendum as illegal and vows to block it. The main Hamas negotiator on the document, Abdel Khaleq Natche — the highest-ranking Hamas prisoner held by Israel — said Sunday that he had withdrawn his support. He accused Mr. Abbas of “unacceptable abuse” of the document and exploiting it for political gain, saying that it was intended to promote unity.

Hamas has refused demands from Mr. Abbas and other nations to recognize the right of Israel to exist and to accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements that are explicit in their support of a two-state solution. Hamas sees the referendum as an effort by Mr. Abbas to undermine its authority.

But Hamas legislators pulled back a little on Monday, criticizing Mr. Abbas for exceeding his legal powers but voting for a continuation of talks between the factions. “We are going to continue our efforts over the coming days and are hopeful of resolving the whole crisis,” said the speaker, Aziz Dweik of Hamas.

Hamas said it would wait until June 20 before bringing the referendum back before the legislature. “If we succeed through dialogue in stopping the referendum then it will be better, but if we hit a dead end, parliament will assume its responsibilities and hold the vote,” said a Hamas legislator and spokesman, Mushir al-Masri.

It is unclear whether Mr. Abbas has the authority to call a referendum or what a vote in parliament against holding it would mean.

In Damascus, Syria, Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau in Syria, told The Associated Press that Hamas would do its best to stop the vote. “Even if it is carried out, Hamas would not recognize it or accept its outcome, whatever it might be,” he said.

In Gaza, Hamas gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and antitank rockets at the Rafah headquarters of the Preventive Security force loyal to Mr. Abbas and Fatah. Two people were killed, including a deaf passer-by, Suleiman Zanoun, 34, and at least 15 people were wounded in the fighting, which involved at least 100 armed men.

Earlier in the day, a Hamas paramilitary fighter was killed when fighting erupted after a funeral for another Hamas militant who died overnight from wounds suffered 10 days ago in a previous intra-Palestinian clash.

Hamas accused the Preventive Security force of being behind Monday’s shooting, and a Palestinian security officer was shot and critically wounded later on his way home from work in Rafah. At least 20 people, mostly gunmen, have been killed in clashes between the factions in Gaza in the past two months.

As the barrage of Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel slowed Monday, Israeli officials warned Hamas leaders that they would have no immunity from assassination if they were responsible for the deaths of Israeli civilians. A senior member of the ruling Kadima Party, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, could be assassinated if the group began further suicide bombings in Israel.

Referring to previous Hamas leaders assassinated by Israel, Mr. Hanegbi said, “Yassin and Rantissi are waiting for you, Haniya, if you implement the same stance of liquidating Jews, indiscriminate firing and suicide terror attacks aimed at paralyzing Israeli society anew.”

Mr. Haniya said the threat was an example “of a type of political madness from some Israeli leaders.”

Israeli newspapers suggested that the defense minister, Amir Peretz, leader of the Labor Party, had rejected army plans for intensified airstrikes against rocket-launching teams and sites, including some Hamas workshops where the crude Qassam rockets are assembled. Mr. Peretz, according to the news media, told the generals to keep planning.

At the same time, an Israeli investigation continued into the deaths of eight Palestinian civilians on a northern Gaza beach on Friday, with Israeli officials continuing to suggest that the explosion may not have been caused by an Israeli artillery shell, but by an errant Qassam rocket or explosives hidden in the sand.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in London meeting with his British counterpart, Tony Blair, who said Israel was right to have no contacts with Hamas until it renounces violence. Mr. Olmert repeated his promise to try to negotiate first with Mr. Abbas.

Asked about the comments by Mr. Hanegbi, the Kadima Party member, Mr. Olmert, said, “Whoever is implicated in terrorism cannot claim to have immunity,” and added: “I do not think it would be wise of me to be more specific.”

Commuter Train Derails in Israel

NETANYA, Israel, June 12 (AP) — A crowded commuter train derailed Monday after slamming into a pickup truck at a crossing in central Israel, killing 5 people and injuring 77, officials said. The crash was believed to be an accident and not an attack.

All five of the dead were in one car, said a rescue service spokesman.