Lethal tensions everywhere in Gaza

By Martin Patience
BBC News, Gaza

The Palestinian presidential guard is out in force in Gaza

You only need visit Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's presidential compound in Gaza city to get a feel for how tense it is here.

Clutching Kalashnikov rifles, members of the elite Force 17 unit and the presidential guard watch through the slits of their black balaclavas at every corner.

They have set up roadblocks made up of crash barriers and big rubbish bins at a 300m (980ft) radius of the president's compound.

Cars approach the soldiers warily. Every driver is asked for identification papers. They are all forced to open up their car boots. The soldiers check for weapons and explosives.

As we inched up to one makeshift road block 100m (330ft) from the Mr Abbas's house, six soldiers surrounded us, pointing their weapons at the vehicle.

"What are you doing?" one of them barked.

After a few minutes, they let us pass. But not before one of the soldiers said in English: "This is one of the safest places in the world."

He must have been joking.

Lethal tensions

A makeshift ceasefire between the two main Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas is supposed to end the violence which has claimed several Palestinian lives last week, including three children.

This cycle of violence needs to end now. Otherwise, I fear it will last forever Wael Bashir, lecturer

But shots rang out near the presidential compound as unknown gunmen fired at the buildings.

The confrontations between the two main Palestinian political factions have been growing ever since Hamas's stunning electoral victory over Fatah earlier this year.

The Hamas administration has been subject to an international economic boycott for its refusal to recognise Israel, crippling the Palestinian economy.

'Attempted coup'

After negotiations between the two parties failed to produce a national unity government, which they hoped would end the embargo, there has been score-settling on the streets.

Mahmoud Abbas, also the leader of the Fatah movement, called for fresh elections on Saturday to end the crisis. Hamas leaders said it was an attempted coup.

Many Palestinians worry that the growing political polarisation will lead to greater bloodshed.

Nowhere is this clearer than at the road junction that separates the city's al-Azhar university and Islamic university.

Al-Azhar is seen as a Fatah stronghold, while the Islamic university is seen as a production line of Hamas supporters.

At al-Azhar university, the campus is empty. Students are respecting a three-day mourning period after a 19-year-old student was shot dead in clashes.

A hundred metres away, students milled about outside the Islamic university after finishing classes. One lecturer Wael Bashir said everyone was on edge.

"This cycle of violence needs to end now," he said. "Otherwise, I fear, it will last forever."