Not yet 30 and already boasting three years of experience in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Raed Abu Faddak is wondering whether he will soon have to find a new occupation.

After quitting college and then working in a textile factory in Israel, Mr. Abu Faddak joined Al Aqsa, one of many groups that sprang up around the intifada when it began five years ago this month after Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down.

"If there's no Israeli occupation, there is no need for resistance," says Abu Faddak, dressed in military gear that, judging from the Hebrew inside his khaki flak jacket, is stolen from the Israeli army. "If they leave Gaza, we won't fight from Gaza. But if they're still in Ramallah, there will be resistance in Ramallah."

Just as Israeli struggled against Israeli as part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal plan, to be completed next week, Palestinian is now facing Palestinian in a tug of war over what comes next.

While some, like Abu Faddak (whose name may be a pseudonym), think that Palestinians should stop attacking Israel from Gaza if Israel completely reverses its 38-year occupation here, other militant groups, including Hamas, say the struggle should continue.

Moreover, the proliferation of militant groups alongside a weak Palestinian Authority (PA) means that during the transition - in which Palestinians stand to gain 21 former Israeli settlements - some ambitious groups are seizing the opportunity to stake their claim in the new Gaza.

The assassination Wednesday of Mousa Arafat, a cousin of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, some here say, was an attempt by some groups to force the rule of the gun over the rule of law.

"Now, instead of looking for an apartment and a job and security, these [militants'] expectations and ambitions have increased. They are trying to get a bigger piece of the cake," says Ziad Abu Amr, a Gaza City representative to the Palestinian legislative council and author of several books on Islamic militants in Gaza. "The PA seems to be paralyzed and unable to establish the rule of law, so they figure they can get away with things and get concessions."

One solution, says Dr. Abu Amr, is to coax the different factions into a dialogue with the PA. This would bring them into a process of national goal-setting for possible Palestinian statehood. "The challenge is not coming from the factions which are engaged in a dialogue with the PA, Hamas included," he says. "These started as groups with grievances, and now they are becoming more and more autonomous and gaining more power."

Indeed, one of those grievances was corruption, and many of the young militants viewed Arafat's assassination as a symbolic comeuppance for a whole array of misdeeds within the PA. Abu Faddak, for one, hoped it would be a warning sign to the PA.

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