Crowd loots Arafat's home

Gaza Strip: A crowd on Saturday looted the home of the late Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, witnesses and Fatah officials said.

The crowd took furniture, wall tiles and Arafat's personal belongings in the villa, they said.

The looting came a day after Esmail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister in the dismissed Palestinian government, called for an end to looting of abandoned Fatah assets in Gaza and proposed reconciliation talks with President Mahmoud Abbas.

Meanwhile, Fatah gunmen stormed Hamas-run parliament and government ministries and told staff that those with ties to Hamas will not be allowed to return.

At the parliament, the Fatah supporters climbed on the roof of the building and fired in the air. They planted Fatah and Palestinian flags on the building.

They also dragged Deputy Speaker Hassan Kreisheh from the building. Kreisheh was not hurt, witnesses said.

Also on Saturday, an American ambassador told Abbas during a meeting in Ramallah that the United States would lift a ban on direct aid to the new government, a senior Palestinian official said.

"Abbas was informed the American administration will immediately lift the sanctions once the emergency government is announced," the official said as Abbas met US Consul-General Jacob Walles.