Abbas mulls firing cabinet as Gaza clashes rage on
Friday, 15 June 2007
GAZA CITY, Jun 14 (AFP): Hamas besieged a Fatah post in Gaza Thursday as factional clashes entered their second week and the Palestinian president mulled firing the teetering coalition cabinet uniting the rivals.
An increasingly alarmed international community warned that the no-holds-barred power struggle between Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah endangered prospects of a future Palestinian state and peace with Israel.
The United Nations said it was mulling sending foreign troops to quell the spiralling bloodshed that threatens to sink into anarchy the impoverished and weapons-awashed Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated places.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was considering sacking the unity cabinet between his Fatah and rival Hamas after warning of collapse and civil war if the Gaza "madness" continued, officials told AFP.
"He is seriously considering dismissing the government," one senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The coalition uniting Hamas and Fatah was set up in March with the hope of ending the internecine bloodshed and lifting a debilitating Western aid boycott imposed on the government after Hamas formed a cabinet alone a year ago.
The president was due to make his decision after holding crisis talks with senior leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and his Fatah party, an Abbas aide said.
An increasingly alarmed international community warned that the no-holds-barred power struggle between Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah endangered prospects of a future Palestinian state and peace with Israel.
The United Nations said it was mulling sending foreign troops to quell the spiralling bloodshed that threatens to sink into anarchy the impoverished and weapons-awashed Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated places.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was considering sacking the unity cabinet between his Fatah and rival Hamas after warning of collapse and civil war if the Gaza "madness" continued, officials told AFP.
"He is seriously considering dismissing the government," one senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The coalition uniting Hamas and Fatah was set up in March with the hope of ending the internecine bloodshed and lifting a debilitating Western aid boycott imposed on the government after Hamas formed a cabinet alone a year ago.
The president was due to make his decision after holding crisis talks with senior leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and his Fatah party, an Abbas aide said.