Hamas acts to show it's in charge
The Islamist group won the release Wednesday of a British reporter, solidifying its standing in troubled Gaza.
from the July 5, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
"Hamas proved that they are in control of Gaza. This is a sign to the international community, and to the local community, that 'we can make peace and order,' " says Nashat Aqtash, a former consultant to Hamas's 2006 parliamentary campaign. "Alan Johnston was the only card for Hamas to show that they are capable, and when they make promises, they keep it."
Johnston was just weeks away from the conclusion a three-year stint as the BBC's Gaza City bureau chief when he was abducted. One of the last foreign journalists to remain in Gaza despite the increased targeting of foreigners, Johnston's plight drew sympathy worldwide and among Palestinians.
Johnston said that his one lucky break during his ordeal was getting a radio and being able to listen to the BBC. "I began to realize the extraordinary extent of support that there was," Johnston said.
His kidnappers, headed by a man known as Abu Khaled, were "often rude and unpleasant," he said. They "did threaten my life a number of times in various ways," Johnston said.
Johnston described his captors as a small "jihadi" group focused less on the Palestinian conflict with Israel than on "getting a knife into Britain in some way," he said. In exchange for Johnston, the Army of Islam had originally demanded that Britain free a radical Islamic cleric with ties to Al Qaeda.
Although foreigners have been kidnapped before in Gaza, they have been held for relatively brief periods and the abductors' demands usually focused on money and jobs. By contrast, the demands of "The Army of Islam" to release Muslim hostages in Britain and a videotaped message of Johnston in an explosive-laden belt were chilling suggestions of the influence of Al Qaeda.
But with Gaza caught in a power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian security forces avoided moving against the influential clan – a family with militias of its own and a history of alliances with both political parties.
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