Palestinian election officials had to close some offices today because:

Gunmen from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, whose members are loyal to Fatah, burst into the Gaza City offices, Reuters news agency reported.

Raids also took place in Nablus on the West Bank and Rafah and Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. …

The problems are centred over a dispute in Fatah, which is headed by Mr Abbas.

Recently, the party held an internal ballot to decide which of its members should be put forward for the elections. But many senior members of the party were not included.

On Monday, Mr Abbas drew up another list which superseded the results from the ballot, angering some younger members of the party. Their gunmen have since staged protests at the election offices.

On November 28, these gunmen burned ballot boxes, and did some more rootin,’ tootin,’ and shootin.’

So this is how Palestinians resolve disputes, even among themselves? They have a lot to learn about civilized society — and democracy. Just wait. Some pundit will find some way to blame Israel for this chaos.