Fatah-linked kidnappers release Hamas official

Source: CCTV.com | 01-29-2007 14:22

Palestinian gunmen linked to the Fatah faction have released an official of the rival Hamas faction they kidnapped on Sunday in the West Bank city of Nablus. Kidnappings in Gaza and the West Bank coincided with a string of clashes between the two rival armed groups.

Sunday's abduction was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings in the Palestinian Territories in recent months as violence has been escalating between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements.

Upon his release, the Hamas official called for the Palestinian people to unite.

Fayyad Al-Aghbar, Hamas official, said, "I call from here on my brothers in Fatah and President Abu Mazen and the brother Prime Minister Ismail Haneya to sit together and put all their efforts to restore the calm between Hamas and Fatah. Our people should be united."

Also on Sunday, internal fighting continued in Gaza, with twenty-four Palestinians killed in three days. The violence has derailed troubled coalition talks between Hamas and Fatah, obstructing a new round of national dialogue on forming a national unity government.

Fatah-linked militant, said, "This is a natural reaction to what is happening in Gaza, to the persecution and killing of our brothers in the Fatah movement in Gaza."

The clashes are the fiercest among Palestinians since the Hamas group won elections last January, unseating President Mahmoud Abbas's once dominant Fatah. At least 52 Palestinians have been killed in the bloodshed that erupted after Abbas called last month for early presidential and parliamentary elections.

Editor:Du Xiaodan