Oct 9, 2002 5 min read

NUSSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) – With Yasser Arafat’s government at its weakest in years, gunmen from the militant group Hamas are challenging his Palestinian police in a blood feud that has claimed five lives in two days. Tensions remained high in Gaza on Tuesday, a day after Col. Rajeh Abu Lehiya, head of Palestinian riot police, was killed in an operation that appeared to stem from personal vengeance but also reflected the growing audaciousness of Arafat’s Muslim fundamentalist rivals.

Police said Abu Lehiya was kidnapped early Monday and murdered by about 20 Hamas gunmen who disguised themselves as police. An attempt to arrest his killers led to a gunfight in which two Hamas members were killed in Gaza City on Monday. The police hunt for the killers led to clashes later in the day in Nusseirat refugee camp, where two more people were killed.

The open fighting was seen as a possible further weakening in the authority of Yasser Arafat’s self-rule government, which has been severely eroded by Israeli attacks targeting police buildings and barracks.

If the fighting spreads, it could threaten the Palestinian areas with political chaos and a further breakdown in government services.

The outburst comes at a time when Israeli officials have been attacking Arafat – isolating his administration and even destroying most of his headquarters compound – in part to punish him for alleged collaboration with Hamas suicide bombers. Behind the scenes, some Arafat aides have urged the Islamic radicals to end attacks against Israeli civilians – so far to little effect.

The last such confrontations came about a year ago, when Arafat’s forces clashed with Hamas supporters who held rallies backing Osama Bin Laden. Those gradually diminished.

Today, neither side seems ready to walk away from the current confrontation, but neither appears to be seeking a fight to the finish. Some worry it could divert attention from their struggle against Israel.

Underscoring that point, Raanan Gissin, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s spokesman, welcomed the tensions, saying it could be a first sign the Palestinian police are trying to bring the Islamic militants under control.

However, he added, “This is only a beginning. It may turn either way.”

On Tuesday, hundreds of mourners marched in funeral processions behind the still-bloody bodies of the four men to chants of “Revenge!” and “God is Great!” The green flags of the Hamas movement rippled at the head of the Nusseirat processions, but members of other groups – even Arafat’s Fatah movement – also joined, indicating that anger over the deaths was not limited to Hamas.

Nobody here questions who killed Abu Lehiya and later burned his police car in the heart of Nusseirat: Emad Akel, whose brother Yusef was one of three youths shot to death by Abu Lehiya’s riot police during Gaza City demonstrations last October against the start of U.S. attacks on Taliban-led Afghanistan.

Behind a doorway adorned with a poster of her son alongside one of Osama Bin Laden, Akel’s mother, Aisheh, 52, said Tuesday that her son was a member of the Hamas military wing, but she insisted Hamas leaders played no role in the killing.

“Emad alone killed him,” she said. “If we did not kill him, the other families (who lost sons last year) would have done so.”

The mother, who said her husband and sons were in hiding, said revenge was justified because Palestinian officials had failed to act against Yusef’s slayer.

While Arafat’s administration announced an investigation into last year’s deaths, no results have been announced.

“The failure to establish and apply the rule of law is partially responsible for the current crisis,” said Ziad Abu Amr, an independent member of the Palestinian legislature who said he is trying to mediate a solution. “I think if a proper legal investigation and trial had taken place, then perhaps we would have avoided the current problem.”

Abu Amr suggested a new probe of last year’s killings and those on Monday could solve the problem. Otherwise, he warned, “perhaps the situation could deteriorate in unexpected ways.”

Relations between the two groups hit a low in 1996 when Arafat, under heavy international and Israeli pressure in the wake of a series of deadly Hamas terror attacks, arrested many Hamas military figures. More recently the Islamic groups have ignored Arafat’s calls for an end to attacks on Israeli civilians.

On Tuesday, Arafat’s administration in the West Bank town of Ramallah issued a statement vowing to “show no mercy” to the police colonel’s killer. The statement included a veiled message to Hamas, saying that nobody should “provide a political-security cover for those who committed this awful crime.”

A Hamas leader, Ismail Abu Shanab, insisted his movement was not involved in the killing of Abu Lehiya or in the protests, though it did sponsor the funeral processions for the four and so far has not offered to persuade Akel to turn himself in.

“Emad Akel claims that he got revenge (against) the killer of his brother,” Abu Shanab said. “According to Islamic law, he is not guilty. According to the Palestinian Authority law, he should deliver himself to the court and then the court can judge.”

At the Hamas-sponsored mourning reception for one of Tuesday’s dead, Mohammed Taimeh, 16, young supporters of the Islamic group warned they would not accept efforts to arrest Abu Lehiya’s killer.

“If they stop trying to arrest Imad, everything will be peaceful,” said Khaled Ramesi, 31. Asked what would happen if Akel is arrested, he replied, “It will be a sea of blood.”

Abu Shanab said that was what the faction leaders are trying to prevent.

“We are trying to avoid having the (uprising) eat itself,” he said. “These groups (grew) stronger and tougher facing Israelis. Now when they face themselves, they destroy themselves.”