Anger deepens over Gaza plans

By Peter Greste BBC correspondent in Jerusalem

The wooden keys symbolise lost family homes

In a Gaza suburb, masked Hamas fighters fire their semi-automatic weapons into a structure topped with Israeli flags.

The gunmen rush forward, toss a grenade inside and set the structure alight.

Nobody dies, of course - this is, after all, only a flexing of the militant's Islamic movement's muscle.

It was a display for the downtown residents of Gaza City, to show that although Israel may have assassinated their leader, Sheik Yassin, several weeks ago, they have lost none of their resolve.

The show of strength also followed Wednesday's news conference in Washington, where President Bush explicitly endorsed the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for the occupied territories.

Palestinians here regard it as a disaster.

Lost homes

They say history is repeating itself.

One Hamas political leader, Ismail Hania, said it is a repeat of a declaration by Britain's Lord Balfour in 1917 which first recognised Jewish aspirations for their own state.

"The declaration that Bush has made at the beginning of this century is the same as the one that Lord Balfour made at the start of the last, but the situation of Palestinians and the Arab and Islamic nation today is not the same as it was then."

And so Palestinian anger deepens.

On Wednesday, President Bush acknowledged that any final agreement between Palestinians and Israelis should accept Israeli West Bank settlements and that refugees should be denied any right of return to Israel.

Many of those refugees from the squalid Gaza Strip camps joined a march across town on Friday.

Israel doesn't want peace. Only through resistance and power will we recover our land Refugee in Gaza City View from Israeli street

They lined up behind the names of the villages they were forced to leave and carried large wooden keys, symbols of the locks on the homes they ultimately hope to reopen.

Basel Qarmout, an 18-year-old refugee carrying a sign bearing the name of the village where his family lived, said: "The right of return is a holy one that we can never give up, whatever Bush and Sharon might say."

Alongside him, Khalid Albatsh said: "This means more intifada, more unity. We need the UN to enforce its resolutions.

"We also need Arab and Islamic nations to stand unified and protect our people. We need more than just words." "Peace hasn't brought anything for us," said one refugee.

"Israel doesn't want peace. Only through resistance and power will we recover our land.

"God willing, we'll get it."

Whether through force or negotiation, Hamas has made it clear it intends to keep its fighters' boots on the ground.

For them, the political shifts of the last week have changed nothing.