Key Palestinian figure resigns

Last Modified: 14 May 2007
By: Nima Elbagir

Gun battles in Gaza as the fragile truce between Hamas and Fatah falls apart.

An agreement signed in Mecca in February between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah was meant to bring to an end the violence between the two groups.

But renewed fighting over the weekend has killed Eight people and injured dozens more. And as the death toll looks set to rise Nima Elbagir reports on whether this signals the demise of the Palestinian Unity government:

Gun battles on the streets of Gaza, for the Hamas and Fatah fighters working together it seems has lost its attraction.

Fighting erupted over the weekend between the rival factions. The Palestinian Unity government only a few months old - it seems is already floundering. Rocked further by the resignation today of the Independent Interior Minister Hani Alqwasmi.

A symbolic act from a man whose very presence in the cabinet was meant to represent compromise

"I faced obstacles during the preperation of a security plan.I told all parties I do not accept to be a minister without authority, a shell without content." - Minister Hani Alqwasmi

Earlier this year it was a very different picture, pressure over months of internal strife had forced Hamas and Fatah to the table.

The subsequent deal signed in Saudi Arabia promised unity and an end to factional rivalry.

Today it's as if the Mecca agreement was never signed - eight killed and dozens more injured - but even as the death toll looks set to rise the government maintain the deal still stands

Under the ceasefire terms of the agreement both sides were meant to have pulled their gunmen off the street. It was meant to pave the way for a power sharing governed not by gunmen but by the interests of the Palestinian people.

Today those gunmen were back out in force.

"I faced obstacles during the preperation of a security plan.I told all parties I do not accept to be a minister without authority, a shell without content."
- Minister Hani Alqwasmi

Earlier this year it was a very different picture, pressure over months of internal strife had forced Hamas and Fatah to the table.

The subsequent deal signed in Saudi Arabia promised unity and an end to factional rivalry.

Today it's as if the Mecca agreement was never signed - eight killed and dozens more injured - but even as the death toll looks set to rise the government maintain the deal still stands

Under the ceasefire terms of the agreement both sides were meant to have pulled their gunmen off the street. It was meant to pave the way for a power sharing governed not by gunmen but by the interests of the Palestinian people.

Today those gunmen were back out in force.