VIOLENT CLASHES IN GAZA FOLLOWING KILLING OF PRC

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001342

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MUSTAFA;
DS/IP/NEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2016
TAGS: ASEC KPAL IS
SUBJECT: VIOLENT CLASHES IN GAZA FOLLOWING KILLING OF PRC
LEADER

REF: FBIS GMP 20060402534001

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).

The Consulate General FSNI in Gaza compiled the following
information.


1. (C) SUMMARY: Four Palestinians were killed and 33 were
wounded in clashes following the killing of Popular
Resistance Committee (PRC) military leader 'Abd Yusif al-Quqa
(Abu Yusif) in Gaza City. Al-Quqa was killed on March 31
when a bomb exploded as he walked past a parked car. PRC
spokesmen accused high-level Preventive Security Organization
(PSO) officials of involvement in the assassination, setting
off confrontations throughout Gaza between PRC militants and
Fatah-affiliated gunmen. PA Interior Minister Said Siam has
created a committee to investigate al-Quqa's killing. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) Al-Quqa was killed at 1255L on March 31 when a bomb
wired to a car exploded as he departed his home on al-Nasir
Street in Gaza City in route to prayers at a local mosque.
Shortly afterwards, Ahmad Abd al-Hamid (Abu Abeer) gave a
press conference in which he accused PSO officials Rashid Abu
Shabak, Nabil Tamous, Samir al-Masharawi, and Mohammad Dahlan
of involvement in al-Quqa's killing. In response, gunmen
affiliated with Dahlan loyalist and former PSO officer Nabil
Tamous attacked the press conference. Two teenage boys who
were passing by were injured in the attack.


3. (C) At 1530L, a large group of PRC militants broke from
al-Quqa's funeral procession and attacked Nabil Tamous' home.
While Tamous was not present at the time, three guards at
his home (including PSO officer Saif al-Din) and a passerby
were killed during the attack. During the evening of March
31, PRC militants fired shots at the homes of Rashid Abu
Shubak, Muhammad Dahlan, and the PSO headquarters in Rafah
and Gaza City.


4. (SBU) Al-Quqa's branch of the PRC, al-Nasir Salah al-Din
Brigades, published a statement denouncing the "Zionist
enemy" and the "collaborators working with it on the ground"
for their responsibility in the assassination (ref).
Muhammad Dahlan and Rashid Abu Shubak published statements
denying any involvement in al-Quqa,s killing and calling for
an investigation by the PA. HAMAS Interior Minister Said
Siam ordered the creation of a committee composed of
officials from the PA Interior Ministry, Attorney General's
office, NSF and the Civil Police to investigate the
circumstances behind the killing of al-Quqa and the
subsequent violent clashes.

Biographical Note on al-Quqa
--------------


5. (C) Al-Quqa was the leader of one of several militant
power centers in Gaza. Al-Quqa began his career as a Fatah
militant associated with Khalid al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) and
returned from exile in Tunis in 1994 along with the PLO
leadership. Al-Quqa claimed credit for bringing the Qassam
rocket technology to Gaza as well as several notable attacks
during the al-Aqsa Intifada, which destroyed IDF tanks.
During the al-Aqsa Intifada, al-Quqa broke with Fatah and
emerged as the most prominent military leader of the al-Nasir
Salah al-Din Brigades wing of the PRC. Media sources
reported that al-Quqa was implicated in the October 2003
fatal attack on the Embassy Tel Aviv convoy in Gaza.


6. (C) Al-Quqa had grown more religious and closer to the
HAMAS leadership in recent years. Al-Quqa was a rival of
Muhammad Dahlan and had publicly criticized PSO control of
border crossings. According to Presidential Guards sources,
militants affiliated with al-Quqa had been prominent in
efforts to undermine the tah'diah (period of calm) and were
responsible for recent Qassam rocket launches into Israel.

WALLES