GAZA CITY (AFP) - Gunmen killed two members of the security services in Gaza City as PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas visited a mourning tent for Yasser Arafat, underlining fears the Palestinian leader`s death could trigger an upsurge in lawlessness.
Abbas, the clear favourite to succeed Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), escaped unharmed from a lengthy exchange of fire which he insisted was the result of a feud between gunmen rather than an assassination attempt.
Hospital sources named the two fatalities as a member of Arafat`s elite Force 17 unit and a member of the preventive security service. Four other people were wounded, they added.
Witnesses and an AFP correspondent at the scene said more than 1,000 people were in the tent at the time of the shooting. The gunfire triggered scenes of panic as people fled the tent, although Abbas, ringed by aides and guards, remained calm.
In brief comments to Palestinian television, Abbas said there appeared to have "been friction between armed men and they started shooting in the air.
"There is no political or personal dimension to what happened," he added.
There have been widespread fears that Arafat`s death could unleash a wave of violence, especially in Gaza which has been the scene of several deadly clashes between security services and armed factions in recent months.
Abbas had travelled to Gaza after a series of political meetings in the West Bank designed to ensure a smooth transition of power, with the former premier emerging as clear favourite to become the new elected president of the PA.
A source inside the dominant Fatah faction`s central committee said members had already unanimously agreed on Abbas as their candidate for the January 9 ballot although another committee member denied a firm decision had been made.
"The Fatah central committee has chosen Abu Mazen (Abbas) as its candidate for the presidential elections on January 9," one official, who is a member of the faction`s decision-making body, told AFP on condition of anonymity.
However committee member Abbas Zaki said that members had still to make a decision on who would contest the polls, which will be only the second time that the Palestinian people have had the opportunity to elect their leader.
Cabinet minister Azzam al-Ahmed had earlier told AFP that while there had been no formal decision, "everything is pointing in the direction of our brother Abu Mazen".
Abbas`s candidature would effectively scupper suggestions that the jailed West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghuti, whom polls show is the most popular politician, runs for the post from within the walls of his Israeli prison cell.
The 69-year-old Abbas, who was appointed head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation last week after Arafat`s death in a Paris hospital, lacks broad popular support but his election would be warmly welcomed in both Israel and the United States.
While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W. Bush boycotted Arafat, both men played host to Abbas during negotiations last year.
The bilateral peace process has made next to no progress since Abbas quit as prime minister in September 2003 after a bruising battle with Arafat for greater control of the sprawling Palestinian security apparatus.
Although its popularity has been dented in recent years amid widespread disillusionment at the corruption and incompetence within government, Fatah remains comfortably the largest of the Palestinian factions.
The Palestinians are officially at the start of a 40-day period of mourning and candidates will not be able to put their names forward for another six days, acting Palestinian Authority leader Rawhi Fattuh told journalists.
"The election campaign will begin on December 27 and continue until January 8, the last day before the elections," he told journalists.
Israel is likely to come under strong international pressure to allow the Palestinian residents of annexed east Jerusalem to take part in the election.
According to a report in the Haaretz daily, Washington is insisting Arab residents of east Jerusalem be allowed to vote for a Palestinian president and thus enhance his legitimacy.
East Jerusalem residents were allowed to take part in the only other elections when Arafat was chosen as the first head of the PA in 1996.
However, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who is to meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington on Monday, said he opposed such a move this time because the final status of the disputed holy city had yet to be negotiated.
11/14/2004 - 19:49 GMT - AFP