Palestinian factional fighting may spread

Violence between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas surged in the Gaza Strip for a second consecutive weekend, as at least 25 Palestinians died in three days of Hamas-Fatah fighting. The violence spurred Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal to arrange an emergency summit in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday.

Despite the mounting casualties and failed cease-fires in Gaza, internecine strife in the West Bank has been limited and mostly nonlethal. But now the violence is threatening to spill over, as Fatah militants in cities such as Nablus embark on a series of kidnappings as a counterpunch to Hamas gains in Gaza.

"Every day they are killing somebody in Gaza," says Da'as Kanna, a Fatah militant who kidnapped and later released five Hamas men from downtown Nablus. "The Al Aqsa Brigades [Fatah's military wing] in the West Bank can't sit by and watch. We are one Fatah."

A new West Bank battle front would expose nearly twice as many Palestinians to the daily skirmishes that have kept Gazans shuttered indoors, and threaten to drag Israeli forces into the fray.

Over the weekend, Hamas militants landed several blows to Fatah's power base in Gaza, capturing facilities throughout the north belonging to the Fatah-controlled security services of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas fighters abducted on Saturday the nephew of former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, one of dozens to be kidnapped in the violence, and on Thursday intercepted trucks believed to be carrying arms to forces loyal to Abbas.

Meanwhile, Fatah fighters destroyed laboratories, lecture halls, and a library at Hamas-run Islamic University. They also attacked Gaza's A-Shifa Hospital, thought to be controlled by Hamas.

Unlike Gaza, where the sides are thought to be evenly matched, Fatah's superiority in men and arms is undisputed in the West Bank. And yet, Fatah militants are spooked by rumors that Hamas is quietly moving to replicate its Gaza Executive Force, or tanfideyeh, in West Bank.

Bassem Ezbeidi, a Bir Zeit University political science professor, expects the Hamas-Fatah conflict to remain confined to Gaza, but cautions that a West Bank flare-up can't be ruled out.

"Fatah has been very provocative by kidnapping," says Mr. Ezbeidi. "Fatah is sending a message that, 'We are strong here and we are reacting to what Hamas is doing in Gaza.' It's a war of messages"

Militants like Mr. Kanna have spent most of the past six years bracing for Israeli incursions into Nablus. Last week, however, he and as many as 30 Al Aqsa Brigades gunmen ambushed the local Education Ministry building to kidnap five men accused of membership in the Hamas tanfidiyeh.

Brandishing an M-16, Kanna tells how he got word that a group of masked Hamas gunmen had unleashed a round of bullets near the Nablus municipality a week ago, and fled to the Education Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas. Kanna says the Fatah gunmen attacked the ministry building because it allegedly serves as a training base for the tanfidiyeh.

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