Middle East:As the Gaza Strip dangled perilously on the verge of all-out civil war last night, rival factions Hamas and Fatah agreed to a ceasefire.
Fighters from both organisations had battled each other throughout the day, with gunmen opening fire on the convoy of the Hamas foreign minister and mortar shells being fired at the home of the president, Mahmoud Abbas. Three people were killed and dozens injured during the violent exchanges.
Mr Abbas, who was in the West Bank yesterday, said he was determined to go ahead with his call on Saturday for new parliamentary and presidential elections - the event that triggered the latest round of factional fighting. Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said his Islamic movement, which won parliamentary elections in January this year, would boycott the vote.
Gunmen opened fire on Mahmoud Zahar's car as it drove in the vicinity of the foreign ministry in Gaza City yesterday morning, but the foreign minister emerged unscathed. Hamas officials accused Mr Abbas's opposition, Fatah, of trying to assassinate Mr Zahar. Abbas loyalists also stormed two government ministries in the coastal strip.
Earlier in the day, Hamas gunmen raided a training camp of Mr Abbas's presidential guard, torching trailers and tents and killing a guard there. Later, during the funeral procession for the guard, Hamas militants opened fire on Fatah supporters, injuring six people. A 19-year-old woman became the second fatality yesterday when she was shot during a gunfight between Hamas and Fatah forces.
Toward evening, two mortar shells landed near Mr Abbas's home in Gaza City, wounding five security personnel and a woman. During the day, shots were also fired at Mr Abbas's residence.
The Palestinian leader is playing a high-risk game, hoping that his call for early elections - Hamas has been in power just nine months - will end the political gridlock in the Palestinian Authority over the creation of a national unity government and a return to talks with Israel. Tension between the sides has been growing since negotiations over the formation of a unity government broke down last month.
While the Palestinian president is a strong proponent of dialogue with Israel, Hamas refuses to recognise the Jewish state - a position that has resulted in crippling western sanctions on the Palestinian Authority. But Mr Abbas's move could tip the Palestinians into civil war. It could also backfire, especially if Hamas again emerges victorious in an election race.
Mr Abbas, however, yesterday met the central election commission in Ramallah to discuss a possible date. "The message of the meeting is that he is serious, that he is saying 'don't doubt my words'," said Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to the president, who estimated that elections would be held by June.
Hamas leaders blamed Mr Abbas for the violence and accused Fatah of trying to carry out a "military coup" in Gaza. Mr Haniyeh said the president was acting illegally and did not have a mandate to call early elections - a point on which experts are divided.
"We confirm that the Palestinian government refuses the invitation to early elections because it is unconstitutional," the Palestinian prime minister said.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, yesterday rejected Syrian overtures for renewed peace talks, insisting it was not the time to be engaging in negotiations with Damascus when president George Bush was demanding of Syrian president Bashar Assad that he "stop stirring up war". Mr Olmert's comments came after Mr Assad said in an interview on Friday that Israel should call his "bluff" and see if he was serious about peace. In another interview on Friday, in the Washington Post, Syrian foreign minister Walid Moallem said that an Israeli commitment to relinquish the Golan Heights was not a precondition for talks.
While some Israeli political leaders cautioned against a Syrian "trap", saying Damascus's true aim was not peace with Israel but its desire to extract itself from Mr Bush's "axis of evil," others said the government should treat Mr Assad's overtures seriously.
Ran Cohen, a lawmaker for the dovish Meretz party, said Israel found itself in an "absurd situation in which Syria is going out of its way to signal to Israel it is serious, while the Israeli leadership is going out of its way to prevent any progress".