Kidnap attempt on US activist's parents

[ECH1969]

PALESTINIAN society disintegrated further yesterday as gunmen from the ruling Fatah movement tried to kidnap the parents of an American activist who died trying to halt the demolition of Gaza homes, while other militants destroyed part of Gaza's border wall with Egypt - killing two guards.

Both actions, and the takeover of seven government offices in the town of Rafah, were undertaken by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in order to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to release a militant arrested on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the kidnapping last week of the British human rights worker Kate Burton and her parents, Helen and Hugh.

Spokesmen for the gunmen appeared on al-Jazeera television unmasked and announced that there would be no voting in Rafah on 25 January, the day of parliamentary elections, unless the suspected kidnapper, Alaa al-Hams, is released.

Two Egyptian guards were shot dead in the clashes on the border with Gaza after about 300 Palestinians streamed through two breaches in the border wall, security sources said last night.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=17812006

[Burning Water]

1. More lovely people n/t

[Scurrilous]

2. No Attempt to Kidnap Rachel Corrie’s Parents

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2006

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, 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 Gazas 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.

Cindy and Craig Corrie, who are close friends with the ORSCP participants, were visiting Rafah after attending a Palestinian conference on nonviolence held last week in Bethlehem.

more

[ECH1969]

3. Uhhhhhh

The site you linked to doesn't seem all that reputable.

"Electronic Intifada Updates"

"EU and US disrupt Palestinian elections"

http://palsolidarity.org/main/2006/01/04/no-attempt-to-kidnap-rachel-corries-parents/

[Violet_Crumble]

4. There's nothing wrong with that site...

And the US and the EU have attempted to disrupt Palestinian elections, btw...

Violet...