Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction and Hamas militants agreed yesterday to stop fighting each other after clashes that marked the worst domestic violence in years. Internal confrontation also touched Israel, where thousands of rightists and police scuffled after security forces blocked a planned march by protesters trying to disrupt Israel’s pullout from the occupied Gaza Strip in mid-August. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to give up the Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank has raised the stakes – and the political temperature – on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In Gaza, Fatah and Hamas leaders agreed to end internal street fighting that erupted last week when Abbas ordered his forces to stop rocket attacks by militants who killed a woman inside Israel. “The movements have agreed to stop all clashes and violence and end all armed presence and all issues that may lead to tension between the two sides,” senior Fatah leader and Palestinian cabinet minister Sufian Abu Zaida said.

Two teenagers were killed in clashes last week. About 13 were wounded in gunbattles on Tuesday. Gunmen said the rocket fire was in response to Israeli killings of militants. Israel stepped up attacks against militant groups after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis in an attack on the coastal town of Netanya last week.

“Nothing is better than our unity against our enemy (Israel),” said senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan. Any surge of violence could complicate Israel’s plan to give up Gaza, removing settlers for the first time from land where Palestinians want a state, but Sharon has pledged to push ahead even if there are attacks.

<B>Sharon challenged</B>

At the same time, he faces a tough internal challenge from ultranationalists opposed to giving up any of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. The plan faced a new political test yesterday when Israel’s parliament votes on a bill to postpone the withdrawal. Sharon is expected to win the vote, but political analysts say it could fuel acrimony in his fractured Likud party.

A standoff also continued outside the Gaza Strip between police and protesters who have camped out there, vowing to defy a ban and march on the main settlement bloc in order to hamper the withdrawal. The village of Kfar Maimon was the scene of scuffles on Tuesday when police told demonstrators to leave. “Whoever doesn’t blink first, wins,” said Benzi Lieberman, head of the YESHA settler’s council. “We will stay here and fight for as many nights as it takes. We will reach Gush Katif.”

The settlements were closed to non-residents last week to prevent an influx of pullout opponents. To try to ensure that all goes smoothly during and after the withdrawal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in the region on Thursday on a visit that was arranged hastily last week when a five-month old truce looked in danger of collapse.

Washington hopes the pullout will revive talks on a long-stalled “road map” for Palestinian statehood. Rice urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume dialogue to coordinate plans for the handover of Gaza. “My job is to keep reminding people that they want to have this tied down by the time the withdrawal begins,” Rice told reporters en route to Senegal.

<B>Nidal al-MUGHRABI</B>