Death and Revenge: Palestinian vs. Palestinian
In Gaza, where private pain often has political causes and consequences, it should perhaps come as no surprise that the grief of the Akel family has brought Palestinians to what they call the brink of civil war.

The story, as sprawling as the conflict here and as relentless as a brother's vengeance, begins with the American war in Afghanistan. It was while protesting that war on his first day of college a year ago that Yousef Akel, who raised lovebirds and adored his older brother Imad, was shot dead by Palestinian riot-control police.

On Monday, the day before the anniversary of his brother's death, Imad Akel and a team of men, posing as police officers, stopped the white Hyundai minivan of Col. Rajeh Abu Lehiya, an official of Yasir Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Colonel Abu Lehiya had been in charge of suppressing the demonstration, which Mr. Arafat feared would anger the Bush administration.

The men tortured and killed the colonel, shooting him 20 times in the arms, legs and torso, then dumped his body in the street and drove the van here for an impromptu celebration in the market.

The killing of Colonel Abu Lehiya has accomplished something that two years of Israeli military pressure has largely failed to do: It has brought the Palestinian Authority and Mr. Arafat's Fatah faction into conflict with the Islamist group Hamas, which it accuses of sheltering Imad Akel.

So far, four people have been killed in clashes while preventing the police from making arrests.

Mr. Arafat's loyalists have superior force of arms, but Hamas and Mr. Akel have the sympathy of the street.

How the conflict will end is unclear, but it is about nothing less than the political identity and allegiance of the Palestinians.

"It is a very dangerous stage," Lt. Abd al-Razak al-Majaydah, the Palestinian national security chief here, said in an interview today in his guarded Gaza City headquarters. But he said Mr. Akel and his conspirators had to be brought to justice to vindicate the rule of law.

"Imad Akel should not be in the streets, because he implemented his own law," he said. "He accused, he arrested, he judged and he executed — by himself." Lieutenant Majaydah expressed great anger at some Hamas leaders, but he said he was in negotiations with them and hoped to resolve the standoff without more bloodshed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/international/middleeast/10GAZA.html?pagewanted=all&position=top