JERUSALEM – Anarchy swept over the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday as the Palestinians’ fractured government plunged deeper into chaos, with Fatah gunmen storming parliament buildings and armed gangs roaming the streets and firing into the air.
Loyalists from the once-dominant Fatah faction, deeply stung by their stunning defeat at the hands of the Hamas terrorist group in elections on Wednesday, took up arms.
They denounced and blamed their party’s “old guard” for handing victory to Hamas, accusing Fatah leaders of corruption and calling for their dismissal.
Blocking roads, setting cars on fire and shooting in the air in West Bank towns such as Nablus and Bethlehem, thousands of enraged Fatah backers implored Palestinians not to join a Hamas government.
The violence came as Hamas announced it would defy international pressure and create a Palestinian army that would include its militant wing – responsible for scores of murderous attacks on Israelis.
Israeli officials condemned the plan, demanding that Hamas renounce violence.
Speaking from his base in Damascus, Syria, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal insisted his group would not disarm and said Hamas’ military wing, estimated at nearly 5,000 gunmen in Gaza alone, could be merged into a Palestinian army.
“We are ready to unify the weapons of Palestinian factions, with Palestinian consensus, and form an army like any independent state,” he said.
Hamas forces also brandished arms in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza.
Armed Fatah men briefly took over the Palestinian Legislative Council Parliament building in Ramallah. They shouted from the roof their demands for a change in leadership, including the resignation of President Mahmoud Abbas, before leaving peacefully. Others prayed at Yasser Arafat’s grave site.
“Just yesterday, Hamas called us non-believers and collaborators of Israel,” said a Palestinian policeman demonstrating in Gaza. “And now you want us to be ruled by them?”
Saed Erekat, the Palestinian foreign affairs official who was the chief negotiator for the PLO and Fatah, said there was little prospect of joining with Hamas, and he had a message for the victors.
“Now you are the government, not us. So go do your work,” he said.
As unrest spread, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned that “any continuation of terrorist attacks will be answered by an unprecedented Israeli military attack response.”
“Under no circumstances will we be talking to Hamas,” he said.
In Washington, President Bush said no financial help would be forthcoming to the Palestinians if Hamas did not renounce terror attacks and its calls for the destruction of Israel.
“If they don’t we won’t deal with them. Aid packages won’t go forward,” Bush told CBS News.
Additional reporting by Chris Michaud and Post Wire Services