MIDDLE EAST: Hamas deployed a private army of about 3,000 armed men on the streets of the Gaza Strip yesterday in a challenge to the authority of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
The Islamist group said the force would restore order amid growing security chaos but some Palestinian leaders feared that it would add to the unrest, since much of the violence has been caused by rivalries between Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah movement.
In response, Mr Abbas ordered the deployment of thousands of Palestinian police in central Gaza. A senior Palestinian security official said the deployment, to be fully implemented by today, would be the largest since police fanned out ahead of last year's Israeli pullout from the impoverished coastal territory after 38 years of occupation.
Both Abbas and the Hamas interior minister said they sought to stem bloodshed by rival Gaza gunmen. But with the security forces' loyalties often divided between Hamas and Abbas's long-dominant Fatah faction, further violence remained possible.
Dozens of members of the Hamas force went into action, using rifles and clubs to break up a peaceful protest by unemployed teachers. They also took up positions outside government ministries - they were guarding banks and could be seen patrolling the streets of Gaza city.
The force is led by Jamal Abu Samhadana, who has been responsible for rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel. The interior minister, Saeed Seyam, said he had deployed the force to combat a "state of chaos and anarchy".
Last week, three armed men were killed and about a dozen civilians wounded in fighting between Hamas and Fatah.
Mr Seyam described the violence as "a plot to destabilise the Palestinian territories".
Mr Abbas has tried to retain overall control of the myriad Palestinian security forces.
"The formation of this unit is illegal," Maher Mekdad, a Fatah spokesman in Gaza said. "It violates the presidential decree."
Mr Abbas warned Hamas yesterday that it could not survive if it continued to resist demands by the US, Europe and the UN to recognise Israel and renounce violence.
"They should be part of the international community. Without that, I don't think they can survive, I don't think they can deliver," he said during a visit to Strasbourg. - (Guardian service)
q German Chancellor Angela Merkel was deeply annoyed about a visit to Germany by a Hamas minister in the Palestinian government and would have preferred he had not come, a government spokesman said yesterday.
Palestinian refugees minister Atef Odwan had travelled to Germany on a Swedish-issued EU "Schengen" visa that enabled him to get into Germany without any problems, the spokesman said. It was not immediately clear whether he came by air, rail, car or boat.