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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Thousands defy Hamas in Gaza prayer |
| 2007-09-01 |
| Thousands of Palestinians defied the radical Islamist movement Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip to pray outside on Friday in a public protest called by opposition parties. Surrounded by hundreds of members of a Hamas paramilitary, the protestors gathered in a large square holding up Palestinian flags, an AFP reporter said. Dozens of young people shouted “Shiites, Shiites” in a well-known insult against Hamas, which is seen as close to Iran, a majority Shiite country, and called for Palestinian national unity. The Fatah party chaired by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas led calls for outside prayers on the main Muslim day of rest on Friday after accusing Hamas of “exploiting mosques to enflame tensions and provocations between factions.” Other movements belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organisation - to which Hamas does not belong - issued the same call. Dozens of Palestinians in Gaza received text messages warning them not to attend outdoor prayers with Fatah loyalists. “Attending prayers with Fatah will cause you a lot of problems and we advise you to pray elsewhere. You don’t deserve to be hit, arrested or killed for a corrupt gang that you know well,” said the SMS. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Body counts. No popcorn without bodycounts. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-09-01 18:26 |