Abbas and Haniya to defuse tensions
Agencies
Gaza: Palestinian Prime Minister Esmail Haniya said on Friday 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," Haniya 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 on Thursday, a policeman loyal to Haniya's governing Hamas movement was killed by Fatah gunmen.
Blaming the shooting on bodyguards of Colonel Mohammad 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 Dec. 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.
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Ask me if I care if these people kill each other?!? I don't...I could care less if they do, these are the same people that danced in the streets and passed out sweets in celebration as the Twin Towers were obliterated on 9-11 and thousands of American's died, as the Pentagon burned and Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylania...
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