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Crowds vow revenge
24/02/2008 17:20 - (SA)
Kobar - Thousands of West Bank Hamas supporters vowed revenge on Sunday at the funeral of an imam from the Islamist movement who died while in the custody of Palestinian security forces.
The crowds condemned the West Bank government as they carried the body of Majed al-Barghuti, draped in a green Hamas flag, from the mosque where the 42-year-old led prayers to a cemetery outside Kobar village.
"Hey Fayyad, hey coward, hey American agent!" mourners chanted about Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, a former World Bank economist appointed by President Mahmud Abbas after Hamas drove his forces out of the Gaza Strip last June.
"Take revenge, take revenge, Qassam Brigades!" they yelled, referring to the armed wing of the Islamist movement.
Hamas has accused Palestinian security forces of torturing Barghuti to death and said Abbas's government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank bears "full responsibility for the murder of the martyr".
Abbas has ordered an investigation into Barghuti's death, which security officials initially said was caused by a heart attack. One-on-one talks
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank said he had met Abbas on Saturday for one-on-one talks, a rare encounter between members of the rival movements since Hamas seized power in Gaza.
Nassereddin al-Shaer, who served as deputy prime minister under dismissed Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya, told AFP that he and Ali al-Sartawi, another senior Hamas leader, met Abbas privately.
Shaer declined to elaborate about what was discussed at the meeting and Abbas's office has not confirmed or denied the talks took place.
Barghuti's death has aggravated already bitter divisions between Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which ousted forces loyal to Abbas from the Gaza Strip after a week of deadly clashes.
Since the takeover Abbas has refused all contact with Hamas unless it returns Gaza to his control, a condition Hamas has repeatedly rejected, and his security forces have arrested scores of members of the Islamist movement across the West Bank.
- AFP
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