Thousands of Hamas loyalists turn preacher's funeral into angry West Bank protest

By: ABED KHABEISA - Associated Press | Sunday, February 24, 2008 7:22 PM PST ∞

KOBAR, West Bank -- Thousands of angry Hamas loyalists marched Sunday at the funeral of a Muslim preacher who died in Palestinian custody, turning the ceremony into a rare show of defiance against President Mahmoud Abbas.

The demonstration was an unusual sight in the West Bank, where Abbas' Palestinian Authority have become increasingly autocratic since his Hamas rivals seized power in the Gaza Strip in June. Since then, police there have cracked down on protests perceived to challenge the rule of Abbas, who heads Fatah.

Some 3,000 Hamas loyalists crowded the village of Kobar, carrying the body of Majed Barghouti, who died Friday in a lockup run by intelligence officials.

Mourners waved the green flags of the militant Muslim group as they carried Barghouti's body, boldly chanting in support of Hamas and its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, a group banned in the West Bank.

At a separate march for women, mourners wrapped green Hamas bandannas around their headscarves and loudly condemned Abbas' intelligence chief, Tawfik Tirawi, whom they blame for Barghouti's death.

"Tirawi, you are a coward, you are the Americans' deputy," the women chanted. "We will crush your head, collaborator," they said.

Tirawi did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.

A protest planned by Hamas loyalists in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where Abbas' government is headquartered, was quickly dispersed by club-swinging Palestinian police.

But the noisy funeral showed that the Islamic militant Hamas is a force in the West Bank, though Abbas is in control and his regime is indirectly bolstered by Israeli forces who regularly operate against Hamas and other militant groups.

Early Monday, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed two Hamas militants and wounded three, according to Hamas and Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli military said an aircraft targeted a group of gunmen spotted in the area.

Hours later, a second airstrike killed a third Hamas gunman and wounded two others, Hamas said. The military confirmed the attack.

Addressing an economic conference in Saudi Arabia Sunday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad appealed for Arab support. He also put some blame on Israel for the failure of the Abbas regime to show a strong presence on the ground in the West Bank.

"Israel continues to raid our cities, undermining the credibility of our forces in the eyes of the population and demoralizing them," Fayyad's office quoted him as saying. He also criticized Israel's blockade on Gaza.

On Sunday, Israeli officials pointed to incremental progress in peace talks with Palestinians -- appointing joint committees to deal with secondary issues like water, the environment, economic and judicial matters. However, both sides said this was far from a breakthrough, because core issues like Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and final borders were not involved.

Israel also was taking precautions to keep a Hamas demonstration planned for Monday against its Gaza blockade from turning into a mass breakout like last month's storming of the Gaza-Egypt border.

The Israeli military said its forces operating in southern Gaza Sunday discovered five smuggling tunnels. Soldiers detained 40 Palestinians for questioning.

Barghouti, 44, was a mosque preacher in Kobar and spent several years in Israeli prisons. He was among hundreds of Hamas activists detained by Abbas' security forces in the West Bank following the violent Hamas takeover of Gaza in June. Dozens remain in custody.

Barghouti had an inflamed liver and a serious heart problem when he died, said Justice Minister Ali Khashan. He could not say if Barghouti died because of mistreatment and declined to discuss the case because of the ongoing investigation.

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu dismissed the investigation, called for by Abbas. "He was tortured to death," Nunu told a news conference in Gaza.

Four men who were arrested alongside Barghouti told his family that they were all tied up in painful positions during interrogation, and that intelligence officers demanded to know where the detainees had hidden weapons.

In a statement published in Palestinian newspapers, the intelligence service said Barghouti had complained of chest and abdominal pain and was examined by a hospital doctor two days before his death. Intelligence officials would not comment Sunday on the allegations.

Associated Press writers Steve Weizman and Mark Lavie in Jerusalem contributed to this report.