Palestinian leader unhurt after gunfire erupts

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Was it an assassination attempt, a protest or just an outpouring of grief?

No one was sure Sunday after armed men opened fire in a tent where Mahmoud Abbas, the temporary head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, had just arrived for a mourning service for Yasser Arafat, but one thing was sure: Two people were dead and several injured.

The bursts of gunfire came just hours after Palestinian officials set Jan. 9 as the date for elections to choose a new leader - the first vote in nine years.

Some journalists at the scene described the incident as an assassination attempt, but Abbas and other Palestinian officials disputed that.

"This attack has no personal or private dimension," Abbas told reporters in his office in Gaza City. "It's the result of heated emotions following the martyrdom of President Arafat.

"This is a normal occurrence at weddings and funerals," he said.

Abbas said he did not hear any slogans against him and planned to continue talks with rival Palestinian factions. Abbas has tried in the past, as prime minister, to persuade militants to halt attacks on Israel.

However, militants signaled Sunday they were not interested in a cease-fire. In a Gaza City parade, masked militants unveiled a new rocket, which they claimed had an extended range that could reach the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. The long, green Al-Yasser 1 rocket, named after Arafat, was shown to a cheering crowd as Palestinian security looked on.

The temporary Palestinian leadership, headed by Abbas, has been trying to send a message of unity since Arafat's death Thursday. Arafat's responsibilities were divided among several leaders, and officials held talks with rival factions in Arafat's Fatah movement and the militant opposition groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

However, those rivalries burst into the open minutes after Abbas, the new PLO chief, entered the Gaza City mourning tent, where some 10,000 people - including about 3,000 armed men, most of them police officers - gathered Sunday evening. Abbas, accompanied by Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan and surrounded by security guards, shook hands with mourners.

Moments later, a group of at least 20 young men, who had been demonstrating outside the tent, barged into the tent shouting, "Abbas and Dahlan are agents for the Americans!"

Some witnesses said they pointed their assault rifles at Abbas. Gunfire then popped through the tent. It appears most of the shots were fired in the air - the casualty toll likely would have been far higher had the gunmen taken aim at the large crowd.

Abbas' bodyguards hustled him into a corner as frightened mourners scrambled over plastic chairs to flee. Unhurt, Abbas was taken to Palestinian headquarters.

The gunmen reportedly melted into the gigantic crowd and escaped arrest.

The two dead security men were identified as a member of the Palestinian preventive security service and a member of Force 17, the presidential protection unit. It was not clear whether they were killed by shots fired by the militants or from defensive fire from others among Abbas' bodyguards. Four officers were wounded.

At least five people were injured as panicked bystanders scrambled to escape.

The gunmen wore civilian clothes and many had black-and-white checkered scarves around their necks, the kind favored by Arafat, witnesses said. They were believed to be members of al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is linked to the Fatah movement. Israel's Channel One television reported Sunday that al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade had denounced the shooting.

Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is widely expected to run for Palestinian Authority president. However, victory is far from certain. None of the likely candidates, including Abbas, has the stature of Arafat, and many Palestinians consider Abbas' generation of politicians to be tainted by corruption and out of touch with the masses.

Abbas is expected to be a nominee of Arafat's dominant Fatah movement, but not necessarily the only one. He told the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera that Fatah would soon choose a candidate.

Marwan Barghouti, a leader of the Palestinian uprising who is in an Israeli prison, plans to run, the Associated Press reported, quoting an unnamed person who it said is close to him. In recent polls, Barghouti emerged as the most popular politician after Arafat.

He is serving multiple life terms for murder, and Israel said last week that it will not free him.

The Palestinian election in January will be crucial in providing legitimacy to whoever succeeds Arafat. The vote could also improve the prospect for renewed peace talks, or at least some sort of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, which has collapsed almost entirely during the last four years of fighting.

Rauhi Fattouh, installed as the caretaker leader of the Palestinian Authority after Arafat's death, announced the January election date in the West Bank city of Ramallah, at the compound where Arafat was confined for the final three years of his life and is now buried.

Israel has not said how it will respond, though Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed a willingness to smooth the way for the election, said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., who met with Sharon on Sunday.

Sharon said "he wants them to have successful elections, and Israel will not put obstacles in their way," Ackerman said.

-- Information from the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and New York Times was used in this report.

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