Abbas, Haniyeh agree to defuse tensions in Gaza

Gaza, Jan 5: Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said today he and President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed at emergency talks to keep gunmen from their rival Hamas and Fatah factions off Gaza's streets after six people were killed.

''We have expressed our regret and sorrow for these incidents that do not reflect our struggle,'' Haniyeh told reporters at Abbas's office at the end of their first meeting in two months.

In fighting between rival Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip yesterday, a policeman loyal to Haniyeh's governing Hamas movement was killed by Fatah gunmen.

Blaming the shooting on bodyguards of Colonel Mohammed Ghareeb of the Preventive Security Service, Hamas gunmen then besieged his home, killing the officer and four of his men and wounding his wife, in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

Clashes also erupted in the nearby Jabalya refugee camp and at least 30 people were wounded, hospital officials said.

Violence has surged in Gaza since Abbas challenged Hamas by calling on December. 16 for early parliamentary and presidential elections after talks on forming a unity government failed.

Haniyeh said he and Abbas agreed to ''withdraw all gunmen from the streets and deploy police forces to keep law and order''.

Abbas made no public comment after the session, but a diplomat who attended the talks and declined to be identified confirmed an agreement had been reached.

Similar pacts in the past have been shattered swiftly by violence and Gazans said they feared another eruption of bloodshed later in the day when yesterday's dead are buried.

RAMALLAH RAID

Israeli forces mounted a rare raid into the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday. Hospital officials said four Palestinians were killed and at least 25 wounded.

The operation cast a shadow over a summit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held a few hours later in Egypt to explore restarting stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Smoke rose over central Ramallah after Israeli armoured vehicles and bulldozers, slamming aside parked cars near the main Manara Square, pushed into the city to carry out what an Israeli army spokeswoman called ''routine arrest activity''.

She said four wanted men had been detained.

The raid was the biggest in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, since May when four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.

Palestinians responded to the latest incursion with gunfire and rocks. Pedestrians fled for safety.

''This operation proves that Israeli calls for peace and security are false,'' Abbas said in a statement.

After Olmert and Mubarak met in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, disagreements surfaced at a news conference.

''I expressed to the prime minister our indignation at what happened today in Ramallah and said that Israel and all the people in the region will achieve peace only by refraining from all practices which obstruct its course,'' Mubarak said.

Olmert said he apologised if innocent people were wounded but defended the operation in principle.

''One must remember that Israel must take measures to prevent terrorists from harming Israeli citizens ... During the operation, there were shots fired at Israeli soldiers and I am sorry to say events unfolded in an unforeseen fashion,'' he said.

Israeli media reports said Olmert had no foreknowledge of the Ramallah incursion and that a major-general approved the operation without consulting Defence Minister Amir Peretz.

REUTERS