Palestinian mourn dead in infighting

12/22/2001

By STEVE WEIZMAN
Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM — After two days of internal Palestinian fighting, thousands of mourners attended funerals Saturday for six of those killed. At one point, they formed a human chain to prevent any further outbursts of violence.

The six separate funerals in and around Gaza City all took place without incident, as Palestinian leaders called for an end to some of the worst Palestinian infighting in years.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's recent call for an end to attacks against Israel, followed by a crackdown carried out by the Palestinian security forces, led to violence that left seven Palestinians dead and nearly 100 injured on Thursday and Friday.

The militant group Hamas announced Friday it was halting attacks inside Israel, including suicide bombings, to help ensure Palestinian unity.

Islamic Jihad, another group that has carried out multiple suicide bombings, distributed leaflets at Saturday's funerals saying it would do its part to preserve Palestinian unity. However, the group has not said explicitly that attacks have been suspended.

``Islamic Jihad desires to work in order to protect the Palestinian national interest,'' Nafez Azzam, one of the group's top leaders, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Asked if that meant that the suicide bombings against Israel would cease, Azzam said that that was a decision for the group's military wing, but added that ``as a politician I believe we have to work to protect our national unity.''

As one of the funeral processions for an Islamic Jihad supporter moved past a police station, members of the group joined hands to form a line and prevent anyone in the crowd from advancing toward the station.

Meanwhile, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that with Palestinians pledging to halt attacks, the next move was up to Israel.

Erekat said he told Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in a telephone conversation Friday that he expected Israel to stop its pre-emptive strikes on suspected Palestinian militants and lift its blockade of Palestinian towns and villages.

``The ball now is in the Israeli court to stop all acts of aggression, to stop the policy of assassinations, to lift the closure and to return to the negotiating table,'' he said.

The Palestinian cabinet, meeting Friday night in the West Bank town of Ramallah, issued a statement welcoming the Hamas move as an important contribution.

The Hamas announcement was seen as a victory for the beleaguered Arafat, who has been under intense U.S. and European pressure to prevent attacks on Israel.

Hamas said it had ordered attacks in Israel suspended ``until further notice'' to preserve Palestinian unity. It was the first time Hamas had made such a promise in the 15 months of Mideast fighting.

However, the Hamas decision only referred to stopping suicide attacks within Israel's borders, not in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, leaving open the possibility of further violence against Jewish settlers and soldiers there.

Israel's reaction was guarded. In the past 15 months of fighting, scores of Israelis have been killed in attacks by Islamic militants, including 36 this month.

``What's positive? That they stop terror activities in one place, but keep murdering women and children somewhere else?'' Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Friday. ``As long as the terror activities continue ... we will implement our right of self-defense, and we will act against them with all our might.''

In Friday's violence, thousands of Palestinian mourners in the Jebaliya refugee camp near Gaza City joined the funeral procession of a 17-year-old Islamic Jihad supporter killed a day earlier in a gun battle with Palestinian police.

When the funeral procession passed a police station, gunmen opened fire at officers inside, drawing return fire. Six Palestinians were killed and dozens hurt in the exchange, doctors said.