Hamas, Fatah gunmen battle over vote result
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-28 07:49

 Compounding the Palestinian Authority's worries, the United States said it will review "all aspects" of its aid programs to the Palestinians if Hamas is in the government.

"To be very clear, we do not provide money to terrorist organizations," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Divided Opinion

An opinion poll in Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper showed 48 percent of Israelis favored talking to a Hamas-led Palestinian government, while 43 percent were opposed.

Fatah supporters chant slogans and wave Fatah flags during a protest in Gaza City January 27, 2006. Fatah activists burned cars in an angry protest outside the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City on Friday after the party's shock election defeat to the Islamic militant group Hamas, witnesses said. [Reuters]

Israel holds a general election on March 28 and interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party is the front-runner, has hinted at unilateral moves to set a border with the Palestinians on Israeli terms.

Israel has already pulled its settlers out of the Gaza Strip without negotiations, citing the current Palestinian government's failure to rein in militants.

"In the Gaza disengagement, Israel opened a window of opportunity. With these elections, the Palestinians have slammed it shut," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in Tel Aviv.

Speaking in Damascus, Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, said the movement had a "clear vision for a government of unity -- one in which everyone joins."

But thousands of Fatah supporters, who held protests across Gaza, rejected any coalition with Hamas and called on Fatah's veteran leadership to resign over the debacle. "Corrupt Fatah leaders who caused the election defeat must resign. Fatah must renew itself," one protester shouted through a loudspeaker.

Hamas's capture of 76 seats in the 132-member parliament -- against 43 for Fatah -- was widely seen as a political earthquake in the Middle East, triggered by voter anger at Fatah over corruption and the failure of peace efforts.

Hamas has mostly respected a truce for nearly a year, but says it will not give up its guns or its charter demand for an Islamic state to encompass Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.