Church workers kidnapped, released

NABLUS, West Bank – Palestinian gunmen abducted three foreign church volunteers, including an American, in the West Bank city of Nablus late Friday, releasing them several hours later under pressure from Palestinian authorities and other militants, Palestinian security officials said.

The reason for the abduction was not known, but it came two weeks after militants in Gaza snatched four French charity workers amid a political crisis that shook the authority of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The four French workers were also quickly released.

Five gunmen seized the foreigners – an American, a Briton and an Irishman – around midnight Friday as they were returning to the home where they were staying in Nablus, the officials said. The three were taken to the nearby Balata refugee camp.

Five foreign women accompanying the men were left unharmed. They refused to speak to reporters.

Security officials later said the three were freed, but gave few details. The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which is affiliated with Arafat’s Fatah movement, said earlier it was helping track down the kidnappers, who it said were believed to be from a splinter faction of Al Aqsa.

The volunteers, who were not identified, came to Nablus more than three weeks ago, apparently for missionary activities, the officials said. They were abducted in an upscale part of Nablus, where restaurants stay open late into the night and where young people often meet.

Militants in Gaza kidnapped the four French charity workers, a Palestinian police chief and a top Palestinian security official on July 16 amid a wave of anger at the perceived ineffectiveness of Arafat’s Palestinian Authority. All were released within hours.

That abduction was linked to political turmoil and infighting over corruption and Arafat’s leadership, as protests erupted and Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia tried to resign, complaining that Arafat had not given him enough authority to deal with the unrest.

Arafat and Qureia patched up their differences, however, after Arafat yielded some control over the Palestinian security forces.

The July 16 kidnappings were claimed by an Al Aqsa breakaway faction called the Ahmed Abu Reish Brigade. On Thursday, an Israeli helicopter airstrike killed two members of the group in Gaza, one of whom – Amr Abu Suta – was accused by Israel of involvement in the 1992 slaying of three Israeli soldiers in a Jewish settlement in Gaza.