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Westerners advised to leave Gaza

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, January 5, 2007

GAZA CITY — The Palestinian Authority has urged Westerners to leave the Gaza Strip amid the war between Fatah and Hamas.

Officials said the PA has advised all foreigners, particularly Westerners, to leave the Gaza Strip immediately. They said the PA's Preventive Security Apparatus has determined that Fatah and Hamas could abduct Westerners in efforts to escalate the militia war.

"We have information that there will be a wave of abductions of foreigners over the next few days," an official said. "We are telling all foreign staffers to leave."

On Wednesday, five people were killed in fighting between the two rival movements, Middle East Newsline reported. They included three Fatah operatives as well as a bodyguard for Interior Minister Said Siyam, a Hamas leader.

The official also said PSA, under control of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, has asked Western embassies, particularly Britain and the United States, not to send delegations to the Gaza Strip. He said the alert would continue through next week.

On Jan. 1, a Pervian national and cameraman for the Paris-based Agence France Press was abducted. Officials said the cameraman, Jaime Razuri, could remain captive for an extended period in an attempt to win the release of prisoners already held by Fatah and Hamas.

In 2006, 17 foreigners were abducted in the Gaza Strip. Two members of the U.S. television network Fox News were held for two weeks in August.

Israeli and U.S. diplomats said they have received alerts of plans by Fatah operatives to abduct Americans and other Westerners. They said Fatah has sought to kidnap Americans or Jews in the West Bank.

On Wednesday, Fatah and Hamas officers from rival PA security agencies continued to clash in the Gaza Strip. Three officers from the Fatah-aligned Preventive Security Apparatus were killed when a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Hamas attackers struck a PSA jeep in Khan Yunis.

Two other members of the PSA were said to have been abducted by Hamas. Palestinian sources identified one of them as Moutaz Al Tawil, deputy PSA chief in Khan Yunis.

The fighting in the Gaza Strip has disrupted another tour of Arab League states by PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Aides said Haniyeh would skip the last leg of his current tour, meant to have included Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar, and return to the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, was meant to meet Abbas, who represents Fatah. On Thursday, at least two more people were injured in Fatah-Hamas clashes.


Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.

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