Tens of thousands of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah rallied in the Gaza Strip today, putting on a show of force in the stronghold of the governing Hamas Islamist movement.
The two factions have been locked in a violent power struggle that some Palestinians fear could spark civil war. The internal unrest has worsened since Abbas called last month for early elections to break a political deadlock with Hamas.
"We do not want a civil war and we reject civil war. But I tell you that our blood is not an open target for anyone," senior Abbas aide Tayeb Abdel-Rahim said in a speech on behalf of the president, a moderate.
The rally in Gaza's main stadium was called to mark the 42nd anniversary of the once dominant Fatah movement, which suffered a surprise loss to Hamas in parliamentary elections a year ago.
Witnesses put the crowd at tens of thousands and said it was one of the biggest Fatah rallies in Gaza in years.
It comes a day after Abbas declared illegal a Hamas security force in Gaza. That drew a sharp response from the Islamists and a vow by its Executive Force to double its size to 12,000.
Fatah strongman and former security chief Mohammad Dahlan taunted Hamas during a speech, telling bodyguards to move away. "I need no one ... let Hamas shoot me," Dahlan said, as Fatah gunmen in the crowd fired automatic rifles into the air. "If a
Fatah man is attacked, we will respond. Their leaders will be wrong to think they are far from the reach of our hands."
Senior Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri accused Dahlan of inciting violence.
"It was a call for internal fighting and sedition," he said.