JERUSALEM – Gunmen in the Gaza Strip unleashed bursts of automatic-weapons fire Sunday near Yasser Arafat’s heir apparent, Mahmoud Abbas, panicking his bodyguards and leaving two security men dead.
Abbas, 69, was unhurt in the incident that happened just after he and his entourage arrived at a mourning tent set up in Gaza City in honor of Arafat, who died Thursday. Abbas and other Palestinian officials played down the significance of the incident, saying it was not an assassination attempt.
It appeared not to have been. Witnesses said the weapons of the gunmen, who appeared to be from Arafat’s Fatah movement, were pointed upward.
It was not clear whether the security men were killed by shots fired by the militants or from defensive fire from others among Abbas’ bodyguards.
Witnesses said that just before the shooting broke out, a group of young men shouted slogans denouncing Abbas and former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, who accompanied him. “There’s no honest man here to replace Abu Ammar,” they yelled, using Arafat’s nom de guerre.
According to witness accounts, Abbas’ bodyguards flung him to the ground after gunmen burst into the mourning tent and began firing. Frightened mourners tipped over plastic chairs as they dived for cover. After a few minutes, the gunmen fled and Abbas’ bodyguards hustled him away.
The brazen gunplay was a reminder that Abbas, a moderate who has often said publicly that he opposes violence as a means of pursuing Palestinian statehood, is deeply unpopular among the many young shock troops of Fatah faction who oppose accommodation with Israel.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
