news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070517/ts_afp/mideast
AFP Abbas death plot claim as Palestinian crisis worsens 2 hours, 30 minutes ago RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - An alleged plot by Hamas militants to assassinate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was revealed on Thursday as deadly factional fighting resumed in Gaza and Israeli air strikes targeted the violence-wracked territory.
Fatah party and Hamas that has left nearly 50 people dead and 100 wounded since Sunday. "Abu Mazen's (Abbas's) visit to Gaza was cancelled after the discovery of a tunnel under Salaheddine Road full of explosives placed by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades to blow up (his) convoy," said a senior security official, referring to Hamas's military wing.
An official in Abbas's office confirmed the report but Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Hamas armed wing, told AFP "these reports are aimed at poisoning the atmosphere in Gaza. Earlier, a source close to the president told AFP that Abbas did not want to go to Gaza until he was sure Hamas was firmly committed to the latest truce, which had already given way to fighting.
The first attack hit the headquarters of a Hamas paramilitary force, killing one person and wounding 30. Barely two hours later, a Hamas fighter was killed when Israel fired on a car in Gaza City.
About 15 Israeli tanks also advanced into Gaza near the former settlement of Dugit, a Palestinian security official said. An Israeli military spokesman said only that "some tanks entered the northern Gaza Strip in a defensive move, without going far from the barrier" separating the territory from Israel. The army also deployed a battery of 155mm artillery facing the Gaza Strip. Israel's actions threatened to further exacerbate tensions in Gaza, turned into a warzone by five days of battles between rival Fatah and Hamas fighters that has driven the coalition cabinet to the brink of collapse. "All options against the Zionist enemy are open, including suicide attacks," Abu Obeida warned before the reports of the alleged assassination plot.
Tony Blair appealed to all parties in Gaza to work for peace. We strongly urge the parties to work toward a two-state solution," Bush said. More than 20 rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel on Thursday, including one that struck a school and wounded a child, police said. Both were in the southern town of Sderot, which was struck by eight rockets. In the southern Gaza town of Rafah fighting also flared again, shattering the fourth truce in as many days. Three people were killed and another dozen wounded in a shootout during a funeral for those killed on Wednesday. Gaza residents were sceptical that the fourth ceasefire in as many days would hold after previous agreements fell apart within hours. "The situation is more dangerous than under the Israeli occupation. Back then, we knew from where the bullets came, now they can come from anywhere," said Yad Aziz, 35, a Gaza City pharmacist. The bloodshed also threatens to torpedo efforts to revive Middle East peacemaking after Arab states adopted a revived plan offering normal ties with Israel if it withdraws from land occupied in war in 1967. The fighting -- the third bout of deadly violence since December -- has terrified Gaza Strip residents, worn down by months of factional feuding, lawlessness and a diplomatic and economic boycott imposed by the West and Israel after Hamas gained power last year. The Israeli air strikes were likely to further complicate matters. But faced with the continuing rocket barrage, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a "severe response." The Palestinian unity cabinet that took office on March 17 in a Saudi-mediated power-sharing deal was supposed to end factional fighting that killed more than 100 people in December and January. But tensions between the two rivals continued to simmer, stoked by disagreements over a US security plan, and they boiled over when a Hamas loyalist was killed by a Fatah man on Sunday. In a major blow to the fledgling administration, interior minister Hani al-Qawasmeh quit on Monday, complaining he had not been granted adequate authority and accusing the government of not taking security seriously.
European Union , the United States and the Arab League have all called for a halt to the violence, while Western allies in the Arab world have also voiced deep concern.
Israeli youth comfort each other after home-made rockets fired by Palestinian militants fell on the southern Israeli town of Sderot, a few kms away from the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.
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