Report: Top Fatah official kidnapped

[Eugene]

(Associated Press)

Report: Top Fatah official kidnapped

18 minutes ago

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Assailants kidnapped a top Fatah official in the
Gaza Strip late Monday, an official said, hours after Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas defiantly insisted he would push ahead with his call for
new elections.

Sufian Abu Zaydeh, a former Cabinet minister with Abbas' Fatah Party,
was captured in northern Gaza, a party official said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because he was concerned for his safety. The official said
the Islamic militant group Hamas was believed to be behind the kidnapping.
Hamas officials declined comment on the abduction, which threatened to
derail a day-old truce between Fatah and Hamas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061218/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_politics

[Eugene]

1. Hamas armed wing says frees senior Fatah official (Reuters)

Hamas armed wing says frees senior Fatah official
18 Dec 2006 19:57:47 GMT
Source: Reuters

GAZA, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The armed wing of the governing Palestinian movement
Hamas said it had freed a senior Fatah official who was abducted earlier in the
Gaza Strip.

Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the armed wing, said Sufian Abu Zaida, who is also
a former Palestinian cabinet minister, had been freed as "a gesture of goodwill
despite the fact a leading Hamas figure remained a captive of Fatah"

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18488714.htm