Gaza gunbattles rage as Fatah, Hamas discuss truce

GAZA, Feb 3 (Reuters) Gunbattles raged in Gaza today as senior officials from the rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas met to try to curb an intensifying power struggle which has killed 23 people in three days.

The internecine conflict has brought the coastal strip to a near-standstill and increased pressure on the ''quartet'' of peace brokers -- the United States, UN, EU and Russia -- to make a fresh effort to revive West Asia peace talks.

Eight people were wounded in the battles today and the two sides traded blame for the failure to implement a ceasefire agreed yesterday after telephone talks between Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.

Fatah spokesman Abdel-Hakim Awad said today's violence broke out when Hamas fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades at Al Azhar university, a Fatah stronghold, and Hamas snipers shot at Abbas's presidential guard and a police station in Gaza City.

Ismail Rudwan of Hamas accused the presidential guard of continuing to fire at the Islamic University, next to Al Azhar, and of storming the Ministry of Agriculture.

Schools and shops were closed in Gaza City and residents near the two universities sheltered indoors to escape gunfire.

Abu Amr, a 40-year-old Gazan with three school-age children, said he was keeping them at home even if schools re-opened.

''I will not send them until I am sure that there are no gunmen in the street and we stop hearing the sounds of bullets and explosions,'' he said. He described the repeatedly violated ceasefire agreements as ''a joke and a broken record''.

More than 80 Palestinians have been killed in infighting since talks to form a Palestinian unity government broke down in December and Abbas called for early elections, a step the governing Islamist Hamas movement condemned as a coup.

Neither side has implemented yesterday's agreement to pull gunmen off the streets and dismantle checkpoints across the narrow coastal strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. An earlier ceasefire broke down on Thursday.

Senior Hamas and Fatah officials met at a heavily guarded compound in Gaza to try to revive the truce. Outside, more than 60 Palestinian protesters called for an end to the fighting.

''The meeting today will lay the mechanism to remove the gunmen and checkpoints from the streets and allow Palestinian police forces to carry out their job,'' Awad said of the talks between Interior Minister Saeed Seyam of Hamas and Fatah security official Rashid Abu Shbak.

He said the meeting would be mediated by Egyptian officials.

QUARTET CONCERN Hamas took control of the Palestinian government in March after beating Fatah in an election.

Facing US-led sanctions because of its refusal to formally recognise Israel, renounce violence and commit to existing peace accords, Hamas has struggled to govern but says holding another election would amount to a coup.

Meeting in Washington yesterday, the quartet backed a US push to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks through Abbas, while voicing concern about violence among Palestinians.

The United States has pledged million to bolster thousands of Abbas's security forces. Documents obtained by Reuters show the assistance programme could cover at least 13,500 troops loyal to Abbas.

Hamas accuses Washington of fuelling the fighting to bring down the government.

At least 23 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded since Hamas fighters ambushed a convoy they said was carrying military equipment to Abbas's forces on Thursday.

At the urging of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, Abbas and Meshaal agreed to hold meetings on Tuesday in the holy Muslim city of Mecca to try to resolve their differences over a unity government, Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the latest Western leader to visit the region, travelling to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf on a four-day trip starting today. Officials said the central subject of her talks would be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

REUTERS KD PM2003