MIDDLE EAST: Hamas militants fired a barrage of mortars at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip yesterday in direct defiance of Palestinian leader Mr Mahmoud Abbas, prompting him to sack three of his top security officials. The move was widely perceived as a message to the Islamic group that he would not tolerate violence.
There were no injuries in what was one of the heaviest rocket salvos since the intifada erupted over four years ago. Hamas said it fired close to 50 makeshift mortars at settlements in southern Gaza yesterday morning, in what it called a retaliatory strike for the death of a young Palestinian man who died overnight after being shot by troops in an area near a settlement which the army said it had declared a no-go zone.
The firings of top security officials was also connected to an assault yesterday on the main jail in Gaza. Militants blasted their way in and killed three prisoners in what was described as a settling of scores in a clan feud. Among those sacked by Mr Abbas were Brig Gen Abdel Razek al-Majaydeh, head of public security in Gaza and the West Bank, and Gaza police chief Saeb al-Ajez.
Palestinian Authority officials said Mr Abbas will travel to Gaza today to make it clear to militant groups that he will not tolerate violations of a truce he agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon earlier this week. "President Abbas has given orders to security chiefs to assume their responsibility to prevent any breach in the agreements to protect the national interest," the Palestinian leader's office said in a statement.
Mr Abbas has so far rejected Israeli demands that he crush the armed groups and has insisted that he will use dialogue to get them to cease attacks. If Hamas continues to defy his orders, however, he may be forced to rethink his reluctance to use force.
Mr Sharon's office called Egyptian, American and Palestinian officials to protest the mortar fire and Defence Minister Mr Shaul Mofaz warned that "if the Palestinians don't know how to deal with it, we will deal with it."
Mr Sharon meanwhile, indicated in an interview yesterday that he would consider releasing Palestinian prisoners who had been involved in attacks in which Israelis had been injured or killed, if militants refrained from carrying out attacks during his planned withdrawal from Gaza in the summer. Mr Sharon told the daily Haaretz that the release of these prisoners was of "supreme importance" to the Palestinians.
"They say to you openly, we sent these people to carry out [ attacks], and we travel around the world and stay in hotels, and they support him [ Mr Abbas] today," he said.