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Abbas urged to form new government
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSGAZA CITY (CNN) -- The Palestinian legislature has voted to "urge" Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to form a new government, saying his present government had failed to seize control of Gaza in the wake of Israel's pull out. Monday's vote, 43-5, came after Palestinian policemen broke into the Legislative Council building demanding help in cracking down on Hamas militants. The resolution is not binding and falls short of a full-blown no-confidence vote in the Abbas government. However, it strongly urges Abbas to form a new government within two weeks. Implicit in the resolution is that Abbas could face a no-confidence vote if he fails to act. It is unclear if Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and his Cabinet will be able to weather the crisis. The legislature had gathered to consider the resolution when about 20 policemen fired guns and then entered the parliament building to demand help. Dozens of other policemen remained outside. The protesters complained they had fewer arms and less training than the militants. On Sunday, a quarrel between the son of a slain Hamas leader and a Palestinian police officer led to a gun battle at a Gaza City refugee camp in which three people were killed and 25 others were wounded, Palestinian security sources said. The policeman and the son of former Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi were apparently standing in line at a cash machine when the argument broke out, the sources said. People at the Shati refugee camp nearby heard about the quarrel and reacted angrily, attacking the police station inside the camp. There, crowds gathered, including some armed men, and police exchanged fire with the crowd. A police officer at that station was among the three killed. In April 2004, Rantisi was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza shortly after succeeding Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, the wheelchair-bound leader who died in a similar strike a month earlier. Israel recently completed its withdrawal of troops from Gaza, after removing all of its settlements, ahead of handing over control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. CNN correspondent John Vause contributed to this report. 
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