PALESTINE - July 2 - Hamas Arrests Spokesman For Group Behind Kidnapping.Hamas officials in Gaza arrest a spokesman for the Army of Islam
Alan Graham Johnston (born May 17, 1962) is a British journalist working for the BBC. He has been the BBC's correspondent in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip. , the BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. Gaza correspondent, on March 12. The arrest of Abu Khatab Maqdisi and two other men was believed to be an effort by Hamas to help force the release of Johnston, who was last seen dressed in an explosive belt An explosive belt (also called suicide belt, Bomberpilot Jacket, suicide vest or shaheed belt) is a vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers. in a video made public a week ago by the Army of Islam. Maqdisi had said that Johnston, 45, would be killed if Hamas or anyone else tried to rescue him. The so-called Army of Islam is part of the powerful Dagmoush clan and is believed to be led by an increasingly religious and radical member of the family, Mumtaz Dagmoush. Hamas, which took over Gaza in a battle with Fatah, has promised to bring well-armed and autonomous clans, like the Dagmoush, under control. Gazans want more security on their streets and an end to the power of the armed clans and criminal gangs. But threats from Hamas have made Johnston even more valuable to his kidnappers, who are said to fear that once he is released, they will be targeted by Hamas. One member of the family was killed in a gun battle 10 days ago, and others have been arrested. In return, the Army of Islam claims it has arrested Hamas-affiliated students and threatens to release unspecified "damaging information" about Hamas leaders. While the Army of Islam coats its demands in Islamic language, PA officials and senior Hamas leaders like Mahmoud Zahar have said that the rhetoric is either ill-educated or a sham to cover a ransom demand of several million dollars. Hamas faced further difficulties in Jerusalem, where the Israeli security agency, Shin Bet Noun 1. Shin Bet - the Israeli domestic counterintelligence and internal security agency; "the Shin Bet also handles overall security for Israel's national airline" General Security Services , announced that it had broken up over the last several months what it claimed to have been a Hamas "command center" in East Jerusalem East Jerusalem refers to the part of Jerusalem captured by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and subsequently by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. It includes Jerusalem's Old City and some of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, such as the Temple Mount, Western . Eleven Hamas members were arrested, and 10 of them have Israeli identity cards, making it much easier for them to travel around Israel, the agency said. Hamas organises religious and charity institutions that are also used to recruit members and sometimes armed fighters; Israel said it had also seized about $95,000 in cash. Shin Bet said that some of those arrested headed charitable organisations that are alleged to have funneled money from abroad to Hamas operatives in Jerusalem; one of those arrested was the owner of a glass factory. In the last 18 months, the agency said, more than $225,000 was transferred to Hamas in East Jerusalem from abroad through moneychangers, charities and other organisations. Israel still holds five senior Hamas officials that were arrested in East Jerusalem last year, including some elected to the Palestinian legislature in January 2006. In Gaza, a Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri Sami Abu Zuhri a senior Palestinian spokesman for Hamas was catapulted to notoriety 19 May 2006 when European monitors discovered he had about 900,000 euros concealed in his clothing at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. , denied any connection between the Jerusalem charities and Hamas and said that those arrested were religious, not political figures. "Israeli intelligence is attempting to make an illusory security victory", he said. Zuhri also denied that Hamas had arrested the Army of Islam spokesman, Maqdisi, as part of any possible exchange for Johnson, saying he had been detained after a gunfight. In the West Bank, Zuhri said, Palestinian security forces Palestinian Security Forces provides security to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The PNF consists of:
al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Martyrs of al-Aqsa , Muhmmad Aija, 25, who was deputy to Zakaria Zubeidi Zakaria Zubeidi or Zakariyah Zubeidi (b. 1976) is the current Jenin chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Under his leadership, the Jenin section has built strong ties with Hezbollah in Lebanon,[1] and distanced itself from Yasser Arafat's al-Fatah party. , a Fatah member wanted by Israel. The army said that Aija was carrying an M-16 rifle with a telescopic sight when he was killed, but he did not fire it, an army spokeswoman said. The soldiers were shot at with small arms, and some form of explosive device was thrown, she said, stating that the soldiers shot Aija "before he could shoot them". The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades is affiliated with Fatah. Separately, Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli who was jailed for 18 years for revealing nuclear secrets to the press, was sentenced to six months in prison for violating his parole and speaking to foreign journalists. And the case of the former Israeli president, Moshe Katsav, remained unresolved as the attorney-general, Menachem Mazuz, asked the Israeli Supreme Court for a delay to prepare his response to a petition seeking to overthrow a plea bargain plea bargain n. in criminal procedure, a negotiation between the defendant and his attorney on one side and the prosecutor on the other, in which the defendant agrees to plead "guilty" or "no contest" to some crimes, in return for reduction of the severity of the he reached with Katsav. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion