Hamas says Abbas seeks war as fighting erupts

GAZA, Dec 15 (Reuters) A top Hamas leader accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah of starting a war after his security forces opened fire today on a Hamas rally in the West Bank and firefights broke out in Gaza.

''What a war Mahmoud Abbas you are launching, first against God, and then against Hamas,'' Khalil al-Hayya, the head of Hamas's faction in parliament, told 100,000 of the movement's supporters at a noisy rally in Gaza City.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas was more conciliatory at the rally, appealing for ''national unity'' but stopping short of explicitly calling for calm as he has during previous spikes in internal fighting.

At least 32 Hamas supporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah were wounded by gunfire from Abbas's forces, hospital officials said. Several were in critical condition.

Tensions were at their highest in a decade and followed months of failed talks to form a unity government between the ruling Hamas Islamist faction and Abbas's once-dominant Fatah.

Hayya said Hamas would not agree to holding an early election or a referendum on the issue, a move that Abbas could announce in a speech planned for tomorrow in an attempt to break the political deadlock. Hayya did not say what Hamas would do if Abbas made such a dramatic announcement.

The fresh violence broke out after Hamas, which controls the Palestinian Authority, accused a Fatah strongman and Abbas's presidential guard of trying to kill Haniyeh outside the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Although Israel was not involved in the latest fighting, its decision -- with US backing -- to prevent Haniyeh from entering Gaza with 35 million dollars intensified the standoff in which Haniyeh's convoy came under fire late yesterday.

''We know who opened fire (on Haniyeh's convoy) and they will be punished hard. From now on they will never relax and they will never sleep tight in their homes,'' said Hamas leader and Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.

Haniyeh said the Hamas-led government would not ''stand hand-cuffed'' over the attack on his convoy, but said those behind the shooting would be brought to justice according to Palestinian law.

One of Haniyeh's bodyguards was killed in the incident at Rafah yesterday. Another bodyguard, the prime minister's son and a political adviser were wounded.

Reuters SY GC2042