Gunmen kidnap Palestinian professor

[Behind the Aegis]

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian university professor known as a Hamas leader was kidnapped from his West Bank home late Thursday by four Arabic-speaking gunmen, his wife said.

She said the gunmen, firing in the air, pounded on the door of their home in the town of Tulkarem, and then escaped with her husband, Prof. Riad Abdel Karim al-Raz, 47, head of the engineering department at A-Najah University in Nablus.

Karim is a political leader of the violent Islamic Hamas, according to Palestinians in the area.

Palestinians said the kidnapping appeared to be an internal matter. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to the ruling Fatah movement, denied knowledge of the incident.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Palestinians%20Kidnap

[barb162]

1. what do you make of this?

[pelsar]

3. local politics.....

"The number of Palestinians slain in vigilante killings and other internal violence has nearly quadrupled in four years, from 43 in 2002 to 151 so far in 2005, according to statistics presented Thursday, and one top security official said more Palestinians were killed in internal violence this year than by Israeli troops"

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/632638.html


which begs the question: what is better pre intifada occupation with physical security
or chaos from your own.

note the difference in public outcry...or lack thereof. What the palstenains do to themselves no intl body seems to care, and if they do, they keep quiet for obvious reasons....which leads us to the obvious conclusion: the anti occupation groups, may be right morally but their "protests" seems to lead to far more violence and killing.

all the more reason for the wall...without it, the internal PA violence will spill over ot our side....

[Englander]

4. Seen this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x101917#101968

[Englander]

2. Kidnappers release local Hamas leader

Friday 07 October 2005, 10:37 Makka Time, 7:37 GMT

Riad Abdel Karim al-Raz, 47, also the head of the engineering department at Al-Najah University in Nablus was freed on Friday with a torn short(sic?) and black eye. He said he had no idea who kidnapped him or what they wanted.

"People came and took me by force. They didn't treat me well, and then they apologized and told he I would be taken home," he said.

Asked whether he thought the kidnappers were affiliated with the ruling Fatah movement, which is competing with Hamas in upcoming parliamentary elections, al-Raz said: "I'm not sure myself who they are."

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a resistance group linked with Fatah, denied involvement.

Al-Jazeera