Today's Situation

CASH, CLASHES AND FLASHPOINTS , December 15, 2006

Yesterday was a bad day for Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh was due to return to the Gaza Strip after a week-long tour of friendly Moslem countries, where he collected promises of aid, cooperation and fraternity from a whole host of regional leaders - chief among them, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Haniyeh left Gaza on November 28 for what was supposed to be a month-long trip to the Muslim world, with the goal of raising money for his government. Instead, he decided to cut short his trip in light of the growing factional unrest at home, sparked by the slaying of the three sons of a Fateh intelligence official earlier in the week. Even yesterday, as Haniyeh was making his way home, there were clashes between Fateh and Hamas men at flashpoints across the Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh was in for a nasty surprise, however, when he arrived at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip yesterday, only to find that it had been closed by Israel.

According to Israel Radio, Israel realized that Haniyeh would be carrying a large amount of cash - presumably donated by Iran and Syria - and would attempt to cross into Gaza with the cash.

In an attempt to prevent this - officials claimed that the money would be used to finance terror and that, in any case, it contravenes the international boycott of the Hamas-led PA - the Defense Ministry ordered Rafah crossing closed. A spokesman said that the closure was not an attempt to stop the Hamas leader entering the Strip, but to prevent the international embargo on aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority being violated. According to Haaretz, this is part of a concerted Israeli effort to rigorously enforce the boycott, in the hope that this will lead to the fall of the government.

After seven hours of negotiations, Haniyeh has finally allowed into Gaza, after agreeing to deposit the money in a bank account belonging to the Arab League. Palestinian sources were quoted by the Ynet news service as saying the funds would later be transferred to the PA Finance Ministry.

Haniyeh's troubles did not end at Rafah, however. While he was still being detained on the Egyptian side of the border, some 2,000 Hamas activists stormed the Palestinian side of the crossing, forcing the Presidential Guard stationed there to open fire. Around 20 people were reportedly injured.

When Haniyeh finally entered the Strip, there was more trouble in store. While details are still sketchy, it appears that there was an assault on Haniyeh's convoy, during which his bodyguard was killed and more than two dozen people - including Haniyeh's son, Abdel Salam, and his political adviser, Ahmed Yousef - were wounded. The incident came too late for most of the Israeli newspapers, but Yedioth Ahronoth described it as an assassination attempt.

According to Army Radio, a Hamas spokesman blamed Fateh strongman Mahmoud Dahlan for the shooting, which he described as an assassination attempt.

According to Palestinian news agency Maan, however, the incident was sparked by jubilant Hamas supporters firing in the air when they saw Haniyeh entering Gaza. An eyewitness was quoted as saying, 'Hamas armed men shot in the air in a sign of delight when the convoy of the prime minister entered through [Rafah crossing], that created a state of chaos. The prime minister's guards began shooting at the shooters and that caused many injuries.'

Hamas responded by deploying armed men in key parts of the Gaza Strip - gunmen, carrying automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, were seen taking up positions along main Gaza City streets, according to witnesses - and Haniyeh has threatened to 'deal with' those responsible for the shots fired at his convoy.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the Palestinian people on Saturday, in what is expected to be a plea for unity between the warring factions. Abbas will not, as at first expected, call a referendum on holding early elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.

In other news, Israel Radio reports that the European Union officially adopted a peace proposal formulated by Spain, France and Italy that would allow Hamas to avoid explicit recognition of the Jewish state. According to the report, EU foreign ministers adopted the proposal, which calls for Syrian to play a positive role in the region and for a unity government in the PA, and EU leaders are expected to do the same today.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, however, told Israel Radio that there was no truth in the report, adding that there had been no perceptible change in the position of the EU.

The above text was written and compiled by Simon Spungin using newpaper, radio and wire reports, in English and Hebrew.

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