Gaza-based clansmen exiled as Hamas grabs Fatah bastion

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Hamas claimed Monday to have "uprooted" the last major pocket of armed resistance to its 14-month rule in the Gaza Strip, saying it seized mortars, grenade launchers and other weapons from a once-powerful clan allied with the rival Fatah movement.

Dozens of members of the Hilles clan were being held by the Islamic militants of Hamas, while dozens more who fled to Israel to avoid capture during weekend fighting were given asylum Monday in the Fatah-ruled West Bank.

In a small sign of defiance, Hilles families sent children outdoors wrapped in bright yellow Fatah flags, saying they hoped the sight would annoy Hamas fighters patrolling the neighborhood on foot and in pickup trucks.

Saturday's attack on the Hilles stronghold in Gaza City's Shijaiyeh neighborhood, which killed 11 people and wounded dozens, marked a fresh setback for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah.

Abbas' leadership in the West Bank already was weakened by his failure to win concessions from Israel in peace talks. The defeat of the Hilles clan, one of Fatah's last high-profile bastions in Gaza, underscored Hamas' tight control in the coastal territory seized by its fighters in bloody fighting last year.

Abbas still has a base of support in Gaza, including tens of thousands who draw government salaries from the West Bank, but the movement has been stripped of offices, media outlets and, most importantly, its armed forces.

Islam Shahwan, spokesman for Hamas police, said in an interview that the weekend raid -- the bloodiest Hamas-Fatah fighting since the Gaza takeover -- sent a "clear message to all concerned."

"We do believe this was the last stronghold in Gaza," he said, referring to potential Hamas opponents among the territory's myriad clans. "This stronghold had to be uprooted."

Shahwan said that more than 100 Hilles men had been detained and that Hamas forces seized a large weapons stockpile, including mortars, assault rifles, land mines and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

The Hilles clan, native to Gaza and one of the largest in the territory, has thousands of members. About 4,000 live in the Shijaiyeh area, close to Israel's heavily guarded border with Gaza.

More than 180 clansmen ran toward Israeli positions Saturday afternoon when it became clear Hamas was about to take control of the neighborhood. After some delays, in part because of Hamas fire toward the border, Israel let in the fugitives, including wounded men.

A two-day odyssey ensued, with Abbas wavering whether he should allow the refugees to settle in the West Bank. He ruled out the idea Sunday, arguing Fatah needed to maintain a presence in Gaza and could not abandon the territory to Hamas.

More than 30 Hilles men were sent back to Gaza, and Hamas immediately arrested about half of them. Fearing Hamas retribution, a dozen in that group -- still wearing the dark blue coveralls given them by Israeli troops -- stayed in an Israeli-controlled buffer zone just inside Gaza.

The Israeli army then decided those returning to Gaza would face imminent danger and said Hilles men should not be sent back against their will.

In the end, 92 Hilles men, including the 12 who waited at the border, were taken to the West Bank town of Jericho on Monday. Sixty others went back to Gaza voluntarily, 16 remained in Israeli hospitals and 13 were in Israeli custody, the Israeli military said.

After nightfall Monday, more Hilles refugees arrived at an Israeli checkpoint on the outskirts of Jericho. Dressed in training pants and white undershirts, they were searched and then handed over to Palestinian intelligence officers in Jericho.

Sufian Abu Zaydeh, a Gaza native and former Palestinian Cabinet minister from Fatah, said the forced exile of the Fatah supporters was a sign of Gaza's desperation.

"When a man stands between two choices: to be killed by his people or to be arrested by his enemy, and he reaches a conclusion that it is better to be arrested by his enemy, it shows you how cruel the situation is in Gaza," he told Israel's Army Radio.

In the Shijaiyeh district, the weekend fighting left some of the clan members' homes in shambles. Residents showed reporters two homes they claimed were ransacked by Hamas police.

Clothes were strewn on the floor, china cabinets knocked over, TV screens shot through with bullets, and glass tables and windows smashed. Several women showed ripped photographs of loved ones and said computers, money and gold jewelry were stolen. One home had "Al Qassam special unit" scrawled across the wall in spray paint, a reference to Hamas' armed wing.

Shahwan, the Hamas police spokesman, said complaints of theft would be investigated. He argued that outsiders could have come in to steal from the homes during the chaos of fighting.

Hamas declared the raided neighborhood a closed military zone and barred photographers and camera crews from taking pictures. Shahwan said the ban was for the safety of journalists, saying Hamas police were still searching the area for explosives.

The rising tensions between Hamas and Fatah were triggered by a July 25 bombing at a Gaza City beach hut where Hamas activists were holding a picnic. The blast killed five Hamas men and a 6-year-old girl.

Since then, both Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank have rounded up dozens of political opponents, amid growing reports of beatings and mistreatment of detainees by both sides.

Hani Busbus, a political analyst in Gaza, said Fatah cannot be written off completely in the Gaza Strip.

"There's still around 30 to 40 percent of Gazans who support Fatah," he said. "On the ground, Fatah will be smaller: It doesn't have it's security strongholds, a military wing, and it doesn't have any activities or institutions. But ideologically, the movement is still here."

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Associated Press Writer Dalia Nammari in Jericho, West Bank, contributed to this report.