The Palestinian political process at work.

Fatah gunmen stormed a mourning tent in Gaza City on Sunday evening and opened fire to protest against the presence of the PLO’s Mahmoud Abbas and former security minister Muhammed Dahlan. Two Palestinian policemen were killed in the ensuing gun battle, which lasted for more than 10 minutes. Abbas was unhurt, but his bodyguards threw him to the ground as the shooting intensified.

The two were identified as Kamal Abu Kainas, member of Force 17, or presidential guard, and Raed Darwish of the Preventative Security Force. Palestinian security officials said they were among scores of security officers guarding Abbas and Dahlan.

It was the first incident of its kind in the Gaza Strip since the death of Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat last week. PA officials expressed fear that the shooting attack would trigger internal fighting in the Gaza Strip and called for calm.

The attack occurred shortly after Abbas and Dahlan arrived at the tent to receive condolences for the death of Arafat. Eyewitnesses said a group of 30 gunmen, clad in green and belonging to one of Fatah’s splinter groups, raided the tent chanting slogans against the two, who were surrounded by dozens of armed bodyguards.

Fatah’s armed wing Aksa Martyrs Brigades strongly denied responsibility for the shooting attack and called for an immediate investigation.

The gunmen who entered the tent shouted “Abbas, Dahlan, go away, you American agents.” The gunmen, who were not masked, also chanted slogans in praise of Arafat.

“When they came close to Abbas, some of them opened fire from their automatic rifles,” said a Palestinian journalist who was in the area. …

It was not clear if the gunmen had planned to assassinate Abbas or just frighten him. Reporters for Al-Jazeera and other Arab TV stations at the scene described the incident as an assassination attempt on the life of Abbas and Dahlan.

However, the two men denied that they had been targeted, saying the shooting was the result of confusion and over-zealousness.

“This attack has no personal or private dimension,” a visibly shaken Abbas told reporters in his office in Gaza City. “It’s the result of heated emotions following the martyrdom of President Arafat.”

Abbas said he was unaware that the attackers had been shouting slogans against him and Dahlan. “I didn’t hear at all such cries, not against me or against anyone else,” he added.

Dahlan also dismissed reports describing the incident as an attempt on the life of Abbas. “What happened was the result of confusion that started when Abu Mazen entered the tent together with dozens of journalists,” he said, pointing out that tens of thousands of mourners had converged on the area to offer their condolences for the death of Arafat. “This led to the chaos that we witnessed there.”