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.