GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — If the Palestinian Authority needed a reminder about homegrown security threats - including outright lawlessness that threatens Gaza's economic recovery after the Israeli withdrawal - a small army of gun-toting, masked men brought the message to its doorstep Tuesday.
Hundreds of militants from the ragtag Popular Resistance Committee marched from a local soccer field, through a main street and then, bullets flying, clambered up the front steps of the authority's parliament building for an afternoon rally. Palestinian police stood by and watched.
Some marchers pumped Kalashnikovs in the air. Others held guns and snacked on ice cream treats under a hot sun.
"We're marching to prove that resistance didn't die with the disengagement," an organizer who identified himself as Abu Khatab said, referring to the pullout of Israeli settlers from Gaza.
Asked whether he was worried about Palestinian police stopping the rally at the foot of the Palestinian Legislative Council Building, Khatab laughed.
The display Tuesday illustrated the complicated mission facing Palestinians as the Israeli pullout proceeds. President Mahmoud Abbas has urged calm as Israeli settlers leave. Militant groups have agreed to cooperate.
Economic recovery will depend, in large part, on the effectiveness of Palestinian security. One Egyptian security source working to train hundreds of new police said in an interview this week that "the process is going slowly, slowly."
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