“Gunmen” versus “media:” Gunmen storm Palestinian TV in challenge to Abbas.

GAZA (Reuters) - Dozens of gunmen stormed into Palestine Television on Monday in a show of strength against President Mahmoud Abbas in the final hours before his deadline to Hamas to accept a manifesto implicitly recognizing Israel.

Employees at a broadcasting facility in the Gazan town of Khan Younis said gunmen, whom they identified as local Hamas members, fired into equipment, smashed computers and shouted that Abbas-controlled Palestine TV favored his Fatah faction.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group that came to power after defeating Fatah in a January election, denied responsibility. The gunmen eventually left the television office after beating up two employees, witnesses said.

“The whole place is ruined,” one employee told Reuters by telephone.

“The whole place is ruined.” Excuse me if I don’t weep, because this facility may have been used to produce ghastly television shows like this one (recorded by Palestinian Media Watch):

PalKidsShahada.flv