Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

GAZA CITY, 6 February 2004 — Palestinian gunmen burst into Gaza’s police headquarters and opened fire yesterday, wounding 11 officers. Police described the attack as a failed attempt to assassinate the Palestinian national police chief.

A police statement said Maj. Gen. Ghazi Al-Jabali, a senior security appointee of President Yasser Arafat, escaped unhurt. Residents near the security compound in Gaza City reported hearing gunfire in the area.

“A group of lawless individuals of the lowest level tried to assassinate the founder of the Palestinian national police, sent by some parties that do not want security and peace for the homeland,” a police statement said. “(This was) a flagrant attack on Palestinian legitimacy and in violation of all... standards of our heroic people.”

The statement said the 11 wounded were policemen and bodyguards of Jabali.

Possible reasons for the reported attempt to kill Jabali were not given.

“We saw ambulances enter the headquarters and take away injured policemen,” one witness said.

Officials in Gaza City’s main Al-Shifa Hospital said 11 police officers and civilians had been admitted for treatment, one of whom was described as being in serious condition.

The Palestinian leadership played down the attack. A senior Palestinian Interior Ministry official said the attack was not an assassination bid but rather the result of an internal disagreement.

Armed gangs have taken increasing sway in Gaza and the West Bank, sometimes fighting each other over black-market rackets, as Palestinian governance has weakened under Israeli Army crackdowns on an uprising launched in 2000.

— Additional input from agencies