Gazans play down tensions, focus on Israel shelling

GAZA, May 30 (Reuters) Rival gunmen on the streets and recent deadly clashes may have raised fears of civil war in the Gaza Strip, but residents dismiss such an outcome as Israeli shelling reminds them of the common enemy nearby.

While at least 10 people from rival militant groups have died in fighting this month, and dozens more have been wounded, those plying their trade on the hectic streets of Gaza City shrug at any suggestion of a descent into full-scale war.

Not only do they feel such concerns are overblown and that reason will prevail among Palestinians, but the boom of Israeli artillery shells pounding the northern stretches of the coastal territory is a resounding reminder of other priorities.

''We are one people with one problem, Israel, and we trust in God,'' said Abu Mohammed, 55, a businessman with a struggling shoe factory, drawing on the remains of a cigarette.

''The possibility of civil war is a long way off, even if we sometimes have bad weeks. Things are actually calming down.'' That's a sobering prognosis given the extent of the fears raised less than two weeks ago.

Then, a 3,000-strong force loyal to Hamas, the Islamist movement that won elections in January, deployed on the streets, where it was quickly faced down by rival gunmen loyal to Fatah, the long-dominant group that Hamas defeated in the polls.

Tensions boiled over into skirmishes and then full gun battles, raising the prospect of much more intense fighting.

Hamas men paraded with rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weaponry, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah, called for the strengthening of his own presidential guard in apparent preparation for any showdown.

Yet in the centre of Gaza City, home to most of Gaza's 1.4 million residents, thick bearded gunmen from Hamas could be seen chatting amiably with Palestinian soldiers and other rival forces today, and there was little sense of tension.

''Everyone understands one another,'' said Mohammed Abu Abdullah, a tall, heavily bearded Hamas loyalist, flicking worry beads with one hand as he held an assault rifle in the other.

''We are not just friendly with one another, they are my brothers,'' he said, pointing out a Palestinian soldier in a red beret at the roadside, someone he had gone to school with.

ARTILLERY SHELLING While many were keen to play down tensions, it's clear that the threat of more bursts of violence remains, even if fighting is unlikely ever to match a Beirut- or Baghdad-style conflict.

The sheer presence of so many armed men on the streets, and the constant friction between the groups they represent always runs the risk of boiling over, particularly under the financial pressure already being brought to bear on Gaza.

Israel has stopped transferring tax receipts it collects on the Palestinians' behalf and the West has cut most funding to the Palestinian government in an effort to freeze out Hamas, which Israel, the United States and Europe consider terrorist.

Despite that, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, pledged on Tuesday to pay the salaries of many lower- paid employees among the 165,000 on the government's payroll.

That might help alleviate tensions and offset a pending humanitarian crisis, although it is unclear how many months' salary Haniyeh will be able to pay given the shortage of funds.

Most employees have not been paid for at least two months.

Abdel Kader Abu Shaban, a fruit vendor, said payment might temporarily improve life for Gazans, and take their minds of internal differences, but they should not lose sight of the larger threat.

Speaking over the sound of artillery fired from Israel, which shakes Gaza several times every hour, he pointed to the sky: ''That is our real problem. We are one people, we don't need divisions.'' REUTERS CH KP2240