…as the Palestinian Authority edges closer to civil war. “Ramallah: Fatah gunmen fire weapons in PA Parliament,” from the Jerusalem Post, :
Thousands of angry Fatah activists, led by masked gunmen firing wildly in the air, marched in the West Bank on Saturday, demanding the resignation of party leaders following Fatah’s defeat by Hamas in this week’s parliament election.
Dozens of them made their way into the Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah Saturday afternoon and began shooting in different directions.
Some of the gunmen said they would no longer observe an informal cease-fire with Israel.
Why? Did Israel elect Hamas?
In the city of Nablus, about 2,000 Fatah members marched through the streets, led by dozens of gunmen from the Fatah-allied Al Aksa Martyrs’ Brigades, who climbed aboard the back of a truck and fired in the air.
“Al Aksa, from Rafah to Jenin, has stopped the cease-fire,” one of the gunmen aboard the truck, Nasser Haras, told the crowd. “We are now no longer part of the cease-fire.”
Following bloody clashes Friday night and Saturday morning between his group and Fatah, Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Hania, told his followers Saturday morning that, “weapons should be turned only against Israel.
“Our battle is not against our own people,” he added.
The statement came after Hamas gunmen ambushed a Palestinian police patrol early Saturday, wounding two officers, Gaza police said.