PALESTINE: A Palestinian demonstrator was killed at an anti-Annapolis rally yesterday when clashes broke out between security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and Islamists who brand him a traitor.
Medics said the 35-year-old killed in Hebron had been shot in the chest and 16 others were injured as Palestinian security forces tried to disperse the protest against the peace conference.
Fellow demonstrators said a Palestinian security officer shot the man during the rally, one of several organised in the West Bank by a small Islamist group that opposes Mr Abbas's drive to make peace with Israel. A police spokesman denied security forces were responsible.
In Gaza, where the Islamist party Hamas has effective control, tens of thousands marched to chants of "Death to Israel, death to America". They called Mr Abbas a "traitor" for accepting Israel's existence and trying to launch talks on founding a Palestinian state in only the West Bank and Gaza.
Speaking at the largest protest in the Gaza Strip, Hamas leaders said Mr Abbas had no right to make concessions to Israel.
"Let them go to a thousand conferences. We say in the name of the Palestinian people that we did not authorise anyone to sign any agreement that harms our rights," Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Hamas leader, told a cheering crowd.
Hundreds of Palestinians defied a ban on anti-Annapolis rallies in the larger West Bank, where Fatah holds sway, to attend protests in major cities.
The largest took place in Hebron. Security forces hit protesters with batons, shot into the air and fired tear gas to disperse the rallies.