PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR UPDATE

One Killed, 17 Hurt in Renewed Hamas-Fatah Clashes in Gaza - Khaled Abu Toameh
One Palestinian was killed and 17 wounded in renewed fighting between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza on Thursday. Hassan al-Bazam, 20, who works as a bodyguard for Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, was kidnapped Monday by Fatah gunmen. "They beat me severely with clubs and rifles," Bazam said. "They extinguished cigarettes on my body and melted candles on my back. They also hung me from my hands and started shooting between my legs." Bazam said the kidnappers also shaved his eyebrows, beard and part of his head, which was then marked with a Force 17 [Presidential Guard] sign.

Fayez Barawi, a physician with close links to Hamas, was kidnapped and shot on Thursday by one of the PA security organizations. PA officers shot him five times in different parts of the body. Earlier Thursday, Fatah activist Wael Wahbi, 27, was killed in a clash with Hamas gunmen in Rafah after a group of Fatah gunmen attacked Hamas supporters outside a local mosque. (Jerusalem Post)

Palestinians Fed Up with Gunmen - Wafa Amr
Frequent internal fighting and lawlessness gripping the Palestinian territories have transformed the militants into no more than gangsters in the eyes of many of those who once saw them as heroes. "Many of these groups are now a burden on society," said legislator Nasser Jum'a, once a leading member of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Jum'a said ordinary Palestinians were so fed up with the armed groups "they now wish the Israeli occupation would take over in Gaza or hope for the return of Jordanian rule in the West Bank" to get rid of them.

In one recent incident in the West Bank city of Nablus, gunmen told shopkeepers to close their businesses as a sign of solidarity with a Fatah leader arrested the day before in an Israeli raid. For the first time, most of the shop owners refused to close down. In a poll by the Palestinian independent pollster NearEast Consulting in May, 70% said they feel more insecure since Hamas came to power. (Reuters)