June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement voted to boycott meetings of the coalition Cabinet led by Hamas as clashes between the groups' militants in the Gaza Strip left at least 12 people dead today.
Fatah won't return to the national-unity government until the fighting stops, the group said in a statement late yesterday. Fatah's Central Committee made the decision during a meeting chaired by Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Some 59 people have been killed in the clashes over the past week.
The committee told Fatah supporters to ``foil a coup attempt carried out by a violent group of Hamas militants against the Palestinian Authority and its security apparatus,'' according to the statement.
Fatah agreed in February 2006 to become a junior partner in a government led by Hamas Prime Minister Ismael Hania, though the two movements didn't settle differences over Israel or stop fighting between their loyalists for control of the Gaza Strip. Fatah advocates ending attacks on Israel and renewing peace talks, while Hamas is sworn to the Jewish state's destruction.
Hamas issued an ultimatum today to Fatah fighters to put down their weapons by June 15 and accused the movement of seeking to stage its own coup d'etat.
``If Fatah was interested in stopping the clashes, they can simply clamp down on the coup-makers and the traitorous stream among its members,'' Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
Protesters Shot
Two people were killed when gunmen fired on a group of demonstrators who were protesting the violence, said Joma'a al- Saqqa, chief of emergency medicine at Shifa Hospital, in a phone interview. Palestinian television showed protesters trying to stop masked gunmen from shooting at each other.
The deaths today included six people who were killed when Hamas militants stormed the home of Fatah spokesman Maher Miqdad, said al-Saqqa said.
Hamas has seized all but four Fatah positions in Gaza, Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas's military wing, told reporters today. In Khan Yunis, Hamas militants tunneled under the city's security headquarters and blew it up, said an official for the Preventive Security Forces, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A Fatah spokesman, Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, said the most important positions were still in the hands of the Palestinian Authority, most of whose security forces are loyal to Fatah.
Cease-Fire Urged
Abbas, speaking at a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, urged the two sides agree to a cease-fire.
``If the clashes continue, we will be forced to take necessary measures as soon as possible,'' he said in a news conference with Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen without giving specifics.
Fatah and Hamas gunmen, competing for influence and power, have ignored calls by party leaders for a cease-fire.
General Burhan Hammad, chief of the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza, said he would meet with Hamas and Fatah leaders later today in another bid to impose a truce. Egypt shares a border with southern Gaza.
The latest round of clashes erupted a week ago in the 350 square-kilometer (140 square-mile) enclave on the Mediterranean coast that is home to almost 1.5 million people.
Gaza is getting ``very close'' to civil war, said Basem Ezbidi, a professor of political science at Birzeit University in the West Bank. ``Things are getting out of hand,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``The government, the Cabinet, has no authority, no power, no mandate and no presence.''
West Bank Battle
The West Bank had been quiet during the Gaza conflict until a gun battle today in which militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a Fatah-linked group, attacked a Hamas television station in the city of Nablus, Agence France-Presse reported. No one was injured, AFP said.
Israeli analysts, including Meir Litvak, a professor of Middle East history at Tel Aviv University, say Hamas is seeking to eliminate the military power of Fatah in Gaza.
The nationalist Fatah dominated the Palestinian Authority from its formation in 1994 until the death of the movement's leader, Yasser Arafat, in 2005. Hamas, an Islamic movement designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union, wrested control of the authority in legislative elections in January 2006.
No Final Decision
Fatah hasn't made a final decision on whether to remain inside the government with Hamas, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr, who is an unaligned minister, told reporters in Tokyo today during a tour in which he is seeking foreign aid for the authority.
``I don't think it makes very much sense to undermine the national unity government,'' he said. ``The government has no responsibility in terms of the fighting between Hamas and Fatah. In fact, at the government level Hamas and Fatah work together in harmony.''
He blamed the violence on Israel's blockade of Gaza and the deadlock over peace talks. He urged a resumption of talks and the restoration of foreign aid, which was suspended after Hamas took control of the government.
To contact the reporters on this story: David Rosenberg in Jerusalem at drosenberg1@bloomberg.net ; Saud Abu Ramadan in Gaza City through the Jerusalem bureau at .
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