Tense negotiations were under way on Wednesday night to try to secure the release of a British human rights worker and her parents, who were abducted in the Gaza Strip. The 25-year-old woman, identified as Kate Burton, was showing her parents around the town of Rafah near the Egyptian border when they were bundled into a car and driven off.
Foreigners have frequently been kidnapped in Gaza, but they have never been harmed or held for more than a couple of hours. Police sources said officials were in touch with the kidnappers in the hope of securing an early release. The British embassy in Tel Aviv was also investigating, a spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for a Palestinian human rights group, al-Mezan, said Burton worked for them, but was on leave at the time of the abduction. ”She was trying to take them around to show them the area,” he said. He added that Burton, who is from Scotland, worked as an ”international coordinator” for the group.
The abductions come at an edgy moment in the run-up to Palestinian elections on January 25. There have been a series of armed incident in the Gaza Strip and West Bank as members of the ruling Fatah movement, including gunmen from the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, insisted they be given an opportunity to take part in the ballot.
Last week, Fatah split into two factions in a struggle for ascendancy between older members and a young guard frustrated at marginalisation. That split was overcome on Wednesday in a concerted effort to defeat Hamas in the elections. The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the reunification of the Fatah list, which will be led by Marwan Barghouti, who has been jailed by Israel.
”What’s important is that we go through the election process first united but also … with sportsmanship and a spirit of transparency and fairness, so that we can achieve the true democracy that we all want,” he told reporters in Gaza.
But as one division was mended others emerged. In Gaza City, more than 60 Fatah-affiliated gunmen stormed the main election office, exchanging fire with some 500 police officers who had rushed to the scene, surrounded the building and set up roadblocks. In Rafah, gunmen surrounded the election office, but Palestinian police stopped them entering. In Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, also in Gaza, gunmen made it into the buildings. Some of them were fighting for places on the Fatah candidates’ list; others were demanding jobs in the security forces. All the standoffs ended within hours.
Jibril Rajoub (53) who was Arafat’s security chief in the West Bank, said the lists were reunited when the party leadership agreed to accommodate more members of the young guard in prominent positions. ”Yasser Arafat built up a patriarchy and we accepted it because it was Yasser Arafat. Since his death, there is no longer a patriarchy, and everyone has to abide by the rules.” – Guardian Unlimited Â