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