PLO Police, Islamic Activists Clash in Gaza; Officer Killed

Islamic militants opposed to peace with Israel clashed with PLO police Sunday in a Gaza Strip gunfight that killed one officer and wounded two Islamic activists.

It was the first fatal clash between the security forces of Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat’s self-rule government and gunmen from the main opposition group, Hamas.

Hamas warned that the incident could increase its opposition to Arafat’s autonomy government in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian riding in a car that ran an army roadblock near the city of Ramallah. A second passenger was wounded, Israeli military sources said.

And an Israeli soldier was stabbed at a highway intersection south of Tel Aviv, police said. A Palestinian stabbed the trooper from behind with a large kitchen knife, they said.

In Gaza, Palestinian security sources speaking on condition of anonymity said intelligence agent Lt. Yusri Darwish Hams, 43, was killed in a confrontation with two Hamas activists in the southern town of Rafah.

Hamas issued a leaflet saying Arafat’s forces fired on two of its activists who were stopped on a main road and refused to surrender their weapons. The leaflet said PLO agents seriously wounded a Hamas leader, Mohammed Abu Shamala, and slightly wounded another activist.

PLO police reportedly raided homes of Hamas activists in the Rafah area after the shootout.

Police declined comment on the incident.

“We hold the intelligence forces responsible for what happened today, and we call on the Palestinian forces to protect the warm relationship between our people and not to escalate the situation,” the Hamas leaflet said.

About 4,000 Palestinian mourners, including approximately 1,000 members of Gaza’s 8,000-strong security forces, attended Hams’ funeral in Rafah, witnesses said.

Israel has demanded that Arafat crack down on Hamas and a second militant group, the Islamic Jihad. The two groups have claimed responsibility for the deaths of 11 Israelis since May.

Arafat arrested nearly 50 Islamic Jihad activists earlier this month, but released most of them after they pledged to support the self-rule accord.