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Palestinian leaders face new challenge as militants kidnap, free missionaries

Relatives of Palestinian Mohamed Khalaf Allah, 15, mourn his death at the family's house during the funeral procession at the Khan Yunes refugee camp in the Gaza Strip yesterday. Khalaf Allah was killed by Israeli forces on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

Palestinian militants briefly kidnapped three foreign church workers, including an American, while other gunmen set a Palestinian government building ablaze -- violence similar to the internal strife that sparked a government crisis earlier this month.

The renewed lawlessness posed a tough challenge for Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who took command of the police and internal security forces in a deal last week with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and must now show he can deploy those forces to control militant groups.

Five gunmen seized the foreigners -- an American, a Briton and an Irishman who had been doing missionary activity in Nablus for about three weeks -- on Friday evening near their apartments, Palestinian security officials said.

No reason was given for the abduction. Officials said the kidnappers belonged to a renegade group of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The main militant group joined Palestinian security authorities in searching for the hostages, who were taken to the Balata refugee camp.

The men were released after about three hours, but details were sketchy. The hostages were taken to the Palestinian intelligence headquarters. They declined to speak to reporters, and their identities were not released.

The US State Department and British Foreign Office said they were looking into reports of the incident.

Around the same time, about a dozen armed militants wanted by Israel burned a building used by the local Palestinian government in Jenin to demand financial help from the Palestinian Authority, officials said.

The gunmen from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which is affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement, broke into the building after work hours, fired automatic weapons into the offices and set the building on fire, said the officials.

The militants say they need public support since they cannot work and must remain underground to avoid capture by Israel.

The violence, which appeared unrelated, was the most serious internal unrest in the Palestinian territories since Arafat and Qureia resolved a leadership crisis on Tuesday by agreeing to share control of the Palestinian security forces.

In the Gaza Strip yesterday, about 200 women marched from the town of Beit Lahiya to Bet Hanoun to protest a month-long Israeli military operation to stop rocket fire on Israeli settlements and towns.

"The people of Beit Hanoun are suffering for one month due to the Israeli war machine. It's time for the world to say no and end the aggression," said Jamila Syeem, a Palestinian legislator.

On Friday, Israeli helicopters destroyed a bomb-making factory in a crowded district of Gaza City, gutting a building owned by a young mother who blew herself up in a suicide bombing early this year.

Palestinian medics said two bystanders were injured when one missile slammed into the middle floor of a three-story building, sending a fireball high into the night sky. The building was empty.
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