Gunmen Free Three British Hostages in Gaza

AP ^ | 12/30/5 | SARAH EL DEEB

[SmithL]

GAZA CITY -- A British aid worker and her parents were released from captivity late Friday, two days after gunmen seized the family in the southern Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said.

Palestinian mediator Kamal Sharafi gave no further details, including where the family was released or who had kidnapped them.

Kate Burton, 25, a worker with the Al-Mezan human rights group in Gaza, was kidnapped with her parents Wednesday by Palestinian gunmen in the southern town of Rafah. There was no claim of responsibility, and officials did not say what demands the kidnappers had made.

Jamil Sarhan, Mezan's executive director, said the family was "fine, in good health."

The kidnapping was the latest in a string of abductions of foreigners in recent months, underlining the inability of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to impose law and order in the coastal strip since Israel withdrew from the area in September. The growing unrest has threatened to weaken Abbas ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled next month.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

It's good that they've been released unharmed. Now, are they going to hold the obligatory press conference blaming Israel/America/George Bush for everything?

[Cecily]

You left out Ariel Sharon. Everything is his fault too.

[colorado tanker]

Yes. In libworld, the Israeli "occupation" is "illegal" but they're still responsible for law and order.

[aculeus]

TV grab from al-Jazeera shows aid worker Kate Burton standing next to a gunman after her [sic!] and her parents were released. Photograph: Getty

Guardian editors asleep ping.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1675913,00.html