Gunmen challenge Palestinian leadership over Gaza

Palestinian gunmen challenged the authority of their own leaders in a West Bank refugee camp yesterday, firing weapons and setting off a bomb as Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia delivered an emotional lecture on the need to end internal violence.

“This country needs order, needs quiet,” Qureia shouted, repeating a theme he has been pressing for weeks. But as he spoke yesterday in the Balata camp next to the city of Nablus, gunfire rang out, startling the prime minister and putting his bodyguards on high alert.

After Qureia’s speech, gunmen opened fire again and set off an explosive about 300 yards from his convoy. No one was injured and Qureia was whisked away.

Internal violence is becoming as important an issue for Palestinians as their conflict with Israel, and controlling it is a key political test for Abbas, Qureia and their government – with armed gangs ruling streets and officials becoming targets.

After his violent reception yesterday, Qureia emerged from a cabinet meeting in Nablus and promised again to take action, but he did not spell out plans.

“There are a lot of problems in Nablus, including unemployment,” Qureia said. “We do not want to give anyone excuses. The security of the citizen and the nation is more important than anything else.”

Last week the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights released a report listing violent incidents in Palestinian areas from June 9 to June 14 that killed seven people and injured at least 20 others.

After more than four years of Palestinian-Israeli violence and an ailing economy, Palestinians are growing tired of gun-toting thugs wreaking havoc in their neighbourhoods, and complain the Palestinian Authority is doing little to restore order.

Palestinian officials have said efforts to restore order have been complicated by a security service devastated during the fighting with Israel, when many officers crossed over to the militant groups after Israel targeted police headquarters.

Internal Palestinian violence yesterday also reached the other end of the West Bank.

In the southern city of Hebron, about 100 high-school students, complaining that their final exam in physics was too difficult, attacked the education department, throwing stones at the building and burning tires.

The youths hurled rocks at 70 Palestinian police officers in riot gear and damaged a fire truck trying to put out the burning tires. The police fired in the air to disperse the crowd. No one was hurt.