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Kidnapping, gun battle mar shaky Palestinian cease-fire

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GAZA CITY (CNN) -- A fragile cease-fire between Palestinian factions in Gaza teetered on the edge of collapse Monday after a gun battle at the Jabalya refugee camp and the kidnapping of a senior Fatah official.

Sufian Abu Zeida , a former member of the Palestinian Authority cabinet, was released unharmed a short time later, Fatah said.

The kidnapping came after a gun battle broke out Monday at the camp, injuring five Fatah supporters, Palestinian security sources said.

The body of another kidnapped member of the group's militant wing was found in the refugee camp, north of Gaza City, according to the sources.

The field commander for Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades had been kidnapped earlier in the day, the sources said.

It is not clear who is behind the attacks, which came a day after Hamas and Fatah agreed to the cease-fire following deadly street battles in Gaza. (Watch streets of violence in Gaza )

In an effort to keep a lid on the violence, leaders from the two Palestinian political parties will meet Monday evening, a senior Fatah official said.

He said representatives of two other factions -- the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- who helped broker the cease-fire, also will attend.

The official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said because people have died in the Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence, leaders will be attempting to find ways to keep down calls for revenge among Palestinian clans.

Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas have fought periodic street battles since Hamas won control of the Palestinian government in January's elections.

The latest wave of violence came after Abbas on Saturday announced he is calling early elections, which his Fatah party hopes to win.

The cease-fire took effect shortly after midnight Sunday, according to representatives of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The streets of Gaza City were quiet after the proclamation.

Officials from Hamas and Fatah confirmed their factions had signed on to the plan, but neither party sent officials to the news conference where the deal was announced.

Both sides agreed to pull their gunmen off the streets, stop demonstrations and put an end to provocative statements in Palestinian news media, according to representatives.

Bowing to pressure from Egyptian officials, Fatah also agreed to release seven Hamas members arrested over the weekend, sources in Abbas' office said.

Hours before the cease-fire took effect, Fatah and Hamas fighters fought an intense gun battle near Abbas' office in Gaza, leaving a 19-year-old woman dead, medical sources said. Abbas was in the West Bank at the time.

And sources in Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said that fighters from Hamas' militant wing, Izzedine al Qassam, killed one of their field commanders and kidnapped one of their members.

Fighting between Hamas and Fatah has spiked since Thursday, when Prime Minister Ismail Haniya was attacked as he tried to re-enter Gaza with millions of dollars he raised during a tour of neighboring countries.

When Haniya and Hamas took over the Palestinian government in last January's elections it lead to sanctions that have crippled the Palestinian economy. The United States, Israel and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

Abbas said Saturday that he did not want Fatah to be part of a Hamas-led government, and said he had the constitutional right to dissolve the government and call new elections. He vowed Palestinians would not be drawn into civil war.

"We need to lift the siege," he said. "Everyone must work together to achieve this objective."

Haniya said early elections would be unconstitutional and that Hamas would not participate, an adviser to the prime minister said.

Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told CNN that elections may not take place before mid-2007.

CNN's Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.

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