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DISSIDENT PALESTINIAN gunmen exchanged fire in Gaza yesterday with security guards protecting Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, the transitional leader, when he visited a mourning site for Yasser Arafat. Two guards were killed and 10 others wounded.
The shooting occurred shortly after the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, announced plans to meet moderate Palestinian leaders later this month in an early indication of America's readiness to become involved in a Middle East peace process.
Witnesses said that the Gaza confrontations began at 3pm when fighters of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades armed with rockets and automatic rifles marched on the site. Al-Aqsa is the militia of Mr Arafat's Fatah movement. Their commander, Abu Mohammed, made a speech insisting that no one had a right to make concessions to Israel on the rights of refugees or Jerusalem.
Three hours later, about 100 armed men demanded to be allowed into the compound as Abu Mazen was arriving. They accused Abu Mazen and the local security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, of being American- Israeli stooges.
The presidential guard said that Ahmed Hilles, a local Fatah leader, could go in with five men, but not...