Palestinian President Yasser Arafat cut short a visit to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday and flew back to Gaza to deal with clashes between police and members of the Popular Resistance Committees, including Hamas and Fateh, Israeli media reports said, quoting a Palestinian official.
The unnamed official told Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post that Arafat had been due to leave the UAE on Tuesday night for Jordan, where he was expected to brief King Abdullah on his talks in Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, but the clashes forced him to go to Gaza.
However, other Palestinian officials in Gaza denied that Arafat had cut short his visit, saying the Palestinian leader had made it known before his departure that he was returning to Gaza on Tuesday, said the reports.
Several hundred Palestinians clashed with police near the Gaza City home of a top military intelligence official Monday night in protest of a crackdown by the Palestinian Authority on militants.
The pro-Hamas Palestinian Information Center (PIC) online news service confirmed the incident, saying that a group of masked men headed a march after evening prayers in Shati' Camp in protest of a shooting attack by Palestinian security members at a Hamas armed cell on Saturday.
Three activists were injured in the incident, triggering anger among members of Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees, who took part in the Monday clashes.
The demonstrators hurled stones at guards outside the home of Gaza military intelligence chief Moussa Arafat.
Shots were fired in the air by both armed Palestinian demonstrators and police, but no-one was injured, they said.
The PIC said there were "minor injuries."
A senior Palestinian official told Haaretz that the Hamas attacks were "political provocation."
He said that Hamas was trying to “test the authority of the Palestinian leadership and its strength,” according to the report.
The Palestinian leadership would not allow "the existence of a government within a government, and would not agree to the continued disorganization within the confines of the Palestinian Authority," he was quoted as saying – Albawaba.com
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