With a parliamentary election less than two months away, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted his Fatah party's primaries in the West Bank today, a day after suspending them in Gaza amid violence and fraud.
The primary elections, Fatah's first, had been seen as a step for Abbas to assert control after Israel's Gaza pullout in September and to get his ruling party ready to face down a political challenge from the militant Islamic group Hamas.
Mr Abbas's failure to hold orderly primaries to pick his party's candidates raised new questions about his chances of carrying out a long-delayed parliamentary election as scheduled on Jan. 25 in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
New signs of disarray in Fatah, its public support already eroded by complaints of corruption and misrule, could also boost Hamas, which is contesting a legislative election for the first time after making a strong showing in municipal polls.
The upheaval began yesterday when Fatah halted its primaries in Gaza after gunmen stormed into some polling stations, shooting in the air and complaining the vote was unfair.
Today, Mr Abbas also suspended voting in the West Bank amid what officials said were dozens of irregularities.
Fatah officials said Mr Abbas, trying to bring more transparency to Palestinian politics since the death of Yasser Arafat last year, had feared an outbreak of violence in the territory worse than the unrest in Gaza.
"Abbas has instructed the election committee to stop the entire election process in all areas as a result of widespread fraud," Ahmed al-Deek, a senior Fatah official, told reporters.
Israeli forces exchanged fire with Palestinian police during a raid on the West Bank city of Bethlehem today.
Palestinian police said one of their officers was wounded. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Israeli troops have often clashed with militants during raids into the West Bank, but there have been no recent clashes with Palestinian policemen.
The police commander in Bethlehem said the clash took place near a Palestinian checkpoint when the Israelis were carrying out a search. He said the Israeli army fired at the policemen and the exchange of fire lasted several minutes.
Israel has recently allowed Palestinian police to carry weapons in some towns.
Most police were banned from bearing arms after the start of the uprising, in which lines often blurred between security forces and militants.