Unified Palestinians in Gun Battle

Don't you love it when peace breaks out amongst the Palestinians?

Fatah gunmen shot at the convoy of a minister from the rival Hamas movement in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the first factional violence since Palestinian unity talks began a month ago.

Officials from both sides said Wasfi Kibha, minister of prisoner affairs, was unharmed in the shooting near Tubas, a town near the West Bank's largest city of Nablus.

The incident sparked a gun battle in the area between Hamas and Fatah members in which one person was lightly wounded, Hamas sources said.

Fatah, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, and officials from the ruling Hamas faction offered different accounts of the incident which occurred despite predictions by Hamas members that a joint government deal with Fatah was near.