Resigned to Violence

Three months ago, the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah announced they had struck a deal on a coalition government. The Mecca agreement was hailed as a breakthrough, an end to weeks of violent clashes on the streets of Gaza that had left more than 100 dead.

But the resignation today of the Palestinian interior minister, Hani al-Qawasmi, and the deaths of six people in factional killings over the past 24 hours underlines just how tenuous an agreement it was. Mr Qawasmi, an little-known, independent bureaucrat, faced a huge task in trying to re-establish law and order in the increasingly chaotic Gaza Strip.

He tried to resign two weeks ago, in protest at the continued rivalry between Hamas and Fatah, but his resignation was refused. This time, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader and Palestinian prime minister, had little choice but to accept.

Mr Qawasmi had drawn up a security plan to end the killings, with reforms and new agreements between the many different security groups, but it lacked substance and was never carried out. Mr Qawasmi complained that the key players were not following his orders. "I told all parties I cannot accept being a minister without authority," he told a news conference in Gaza today.

The latest flare up in violence began with the killing yesterday of Baha Abu Jarad, a senior figure in the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group linked to the Fatah movement. That led to a series of shootings between men from Fatah and Hamas, which left six dead and more than 50 injured. More violence is likely to follow.

Hamas won elections in January last year, but its government immediately faced a boycott from Israel and the international community. The occupied Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, slumped into an economic crisis.

Eventually a wave of street battles erupted between Hamas - with its hardline Islamist agenda - and its political rival Fatah - a more moderate movement that for the first time in recent history had been pushed out of power. The two groups have distinct ideological differences, but are also simply challenging each other for power.

The US has promised around $59m to reform and improve the security forces loyal to the Fatah leader and Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in an attempt to strengthen his position against his Hamas rivals. In return Hamas has reportedly tried to enlarge its armed Executive Force, to bring in more weapons and provide more training for its men.

Mr Haniyeh, the prime minister, will take on the interior ministry for now, but today's resignation shows how little his coalition government has managed to achieve in restoring peace to the streets of Gaza.