Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Gaza sliding into civil war

Gaza sliding into civil war:

When they buried Rafiq Siam, the traffic stopped and hundreds of armed men, some firing into the air, gathered at the Gaza mosque. Eight men wearing red berets and black combat uniforms lifted his body wrapped in a white shroud and Palestinian flag and carried it inside with as much ceremony as the pressing crowd would allow.

As Yusuf Siam stood to greet mourners, a boy arrived with a handful of papers marked from the al-Aqsa Brigade, a Fatah-affiliated militant group, and handed them out. The letter offered condolences to the family and then vowed revenge. 'For the families of the people who lost their sons at the hands of Hamas we swear that their blood will not be spilt for nothing,' it said. 'We will give a lesson to Hamas.'

There are signs that this is more serious than rhetorical rivalry between militants. 'The Palestinian situation is marred by sharp divisions and battling; it is a misery and shameful for any Arab and any Palestinian,' Egypt's foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who has tried to mediate in this crisis, told the Al-Ahram newspaper this week. Some senior Palestinians are openly warning now of the danger of civil war."