The Palestinian Hamas-led government and president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction outlawed the carrying of arms by militants, in an unprecedented joint initiative.
‘Anyone who carries arms will be considered an outlaw,’ Fatah spokesman Ahmed Hilles told a joint press conference with Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya, following an emergency meeting in Gaza City aimed at ending a spate of armed clashes between Fatah and Hamas militants.
A total of 14 Palestinians were injured in armed factional fighting on Tuesday, the day after similar Fatah-Hamas clashes left three people dead in the southern Gaza Strip.
Three of those injured on Tuesday received bullet wounds when gunmen opened fire at funerals for two of the Fatah activists who were killed in Monday's violence in southern Gaza.
Witnesses at the funerals in Khan Yunis said that Hamas gunmen had shot at mourners, leading Fatah followers to return fire.
‘We are giving clear instructions to all the militants to end their armed initiatives and to prevent the use of arms,’ Haniya said.
‘The government will use all its powers to impose the law,’ and ‘justice’ he warned, stressing that the meeting had ‘broken the ground for positive relations,’ between the two parties, whose relations have deteriorated since Hamas won legislative elections in January and taken power in March.
According to the joint statement, read by Hilles, the two movements also called for an end to ‘mutual accusations inside mosques, in the media and on the internet’.
‘Dialogue is the only option to solve our differences,’ he insisted.
On Tuesday Abbas had called for calm.
‘We regret that certain parties are trying to sow discord and appeal to everybody to exercise restraint,’ Abbas told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
‘I have given instructions to the security services to contain the situation and arrest those who feel free to commit these acts.’
The deadly violence on Monday followed a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings which ended with all captives being released after mediation.
The armed clashes came amid stalled talks between Hamas and Fatah on the means of solving the crisis provoked by the international suspension of aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Despite ending Fatah's longstanding grip on power after winning January's parliamentary elections, Hamas does not control the security services, which are the responsibility of Abbas as president of the Palestinian Authority.
The overall leader of Hamas, Damascus-based Khaled Meshaal, last month accused Abbas and Fatah of plotting against the movement which is under massive pressure after the West cut aid payments to the Palestinian Authority.
However, he also added his voice Tuesday to the appeals for calm by issuing a joint statement with exiled Fatah general secretary Faruq Qaddumi.
‘We appeal to all Fatah and Hamas activists in the West Bank and Gaza to remain calm and respect the rule of law in order to preserve the rights and interests of the Palestinian people,’ they said.
‘Palestinian unity will lead to liberation, independence and the recovery of our legitimate rights.’