Palestinian
militants, angry at the jailing of their leader by the Palestinian police
for kidnapping a British aid worker and her parents, stole two bulldozers
Wednesday and rammed through a wall near the border with Egypt, hours
after they blocked the official border crossing at Rafah and took over
government buildings.
The gunmen, who belong to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent
offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, rammed through
massive wall as a show of force against the Palestinian Authority. They
had not yet breached a second wall that is directly on the border with
Egypt, according to an Associated Press photographer there.
The militants' rampage through the southern Gaza town of Rafah underscored
the growing lawlessness in Palestinian towns, especially in Gaza. Abbas,
who has condemned the chaos, has been unable to impose order, and his
failure to keep the gunmen in check is expected to harm Fatah's prospects
in Jan. 25 parliament elections.
Fatah-affiliated vigilantes demanding government jobs or the release of
imprisoned friends have been responsible for much of the anarchy,
particularly since Israel's pullout from Gaza in September.
The tightly run Islamic militant Hamas, whose followers have rarely been
involved in vigilante violence, is expected to do well in the vote against
the corruption-tainted Fatah.
The rampage began late Tuesday, when Palestinian intelligence arrested
Alaa al-Hams, an Al Aqsa militant, on suspicion he and his followers
kidnapped human rights activist Kate Burton and her parents for two days
last week. The Burtons were among 19 foreigners abducted by Fatah gunmen
in Gaza in recent months. All have been freed unharmed.
Al-Hams followers then fired at the Palestinian security headquarters in
the southern town of Rafah where he was held. Police and gunmen fired in
the air, but there were no injuries.
On Wednesday morning, some 40 masked gunmen took over the central election
office in Rafah, the local branch of the Palestinian parliament, a court
and another government building. Gunmen were seen on rooftops, inside the
buildings and posted at the main doors. Most workers fled the buildings.
A truckload of gunmen then drove to the nearby Rafah border crossing with
Egypt, Gaza's main gate to the world.
Firing in the air, they closed the entrance gate to the crossing compound
and told waiting passengers to leave the area. They also set up an
impromptu checkpoint at the access road to the crossing, turning away
travelers.
They left the buildings and the crossing after three hours.
But hours later, with al-Hams still in jail, the militants stole two
bulldozers in Rafah and headed for the massive wall several hundred yards
from the border. The wall keeps Palestinians out of the Philadelphi
corridor next to a smaller wall that marks the official border with Egypt.
"We are going to do everything we can to pressure the Authority to
release our leader," said and Al Aqsa leader who gave his name as Abu
Hassan.
The Rafah crossing was handed to Palestinian control, under European
supervision, as part of a U.S.-brokered deal with Israel last month. Since
then, the crossing was forced to shut down several times during attacks by
gunmen.
Salima Abu Maghaseeb, 42, said she was angry over the disruption of her
plans to travel to Egypt with her daughter for her daughter's wedding
later in the week.
"I don't know why the Palestinian Authority is allowing them to do
this," said Abu Maghaseeb, who had her documents checked at the
impromptu roadblock. "Those people should use their guns ... to
protect people and not to come and terrify us. They can go to the border
and clash with the Israelis. God only knows what the future holds for
Gaza."
A spokesman for the European observers, Julio de la Guardia, said the
disruptions outside the crossing was an internal Palestinian matter.
"Our functioning at the border crossing has not been disturbed,"
he said.
In other chaos, Palestinian gunmen burst into a Rafah house early
Wednesday and tried to kidnap the parents of Rachel Corrie, who was killed
in 2003 as she protested the impending demolition of a house in the
southern Gaza town, according to a witness.
The five gunmen appeared to be affiliated with the ruling Fatah movement,
according to Samir Nasrallah, the Corries' host, though it was not clear
if they were from the same group that blockaded the border. The gunmen
eventually relented after being told who their targets were, he said.
Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 as she tried
to stop it from demolishing Nasrallah's house. Her parents, Craig and
Cindy, have repeatedly visited Nasrallah since their daughter's death.
They left Gaza safely after the attempted kidnapping, Nasrallah said.
However, according the ISM Media Group in the name of the Olympia-Rafah
Sister City Project, "news reports stating that the parents of slain
American human rights activist Rachel Corrie were the intended targets of
an attempted kidnapping Wednesday in Gaza are incorrect. According to
Craig and Cindy Corrie, contrary to news reports, the Corries were never
threatened with kidnapping, nor did gunmen burst into the house where the
Corries were staying."
"In the early morning of January 4," according to the ISM,
"two Palestinian men visited three American members of the Olympia-Rafah
Sister City Project (ORSCP) at the home where the Americans were staying
in Rafah, a city on Gaza's border with Egypt. The two men reportedly
wanted to hold the three foreigners in exchange for the release of a
family member who was arrested by Palestinian security forces for an
earlier kidnapping. The Corries were staying in a nearby home and helped
to talk the men out of going through with the plan."
According to the ISM, the three intended hostages -- Rochelle Gause, Will
Hewitt and Serena Becker -- were in an "apartment when the men
arrived at 1:30 am. One of the two men was carrying a weapon. The men
arrived in two cars with other passengers who remained inside the
vehicles."
The Corries said they "drank tea" with the visitors and in the
end shook hands with them and received compliments from them about their
daughter Rachel. The parents of the bulldozered activist issued a
statement blaming Israel: "the continued Israeli occupation
undermines the ability of Palestinians to have a free society," they
said.
The AP contributed to this report.
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