GAZA CITY — Western diplomatic and relief staff have been ordered
to leave the Gaza Strip.
Western diplomatic sources said Western embassies, companies and most
non-governmental organizations no longer maintain Western staffers overnight
in the Gaza Strip. The sources said this has included the United Nations,
which had the largest foreign contingent in the Palestinian Authority.
"The only Westerners left in Gaza are peace activists who believe that
the Palestinian factions will defend them," a diplomatic source said.
"Instead, they have become the target of some of these factions."
In all, the UN contingent in the Gaza Strip contains only three
international staffers. The sources said they have been ordered to remain in
their base after nightfall.
On Sunday, an Italian peace activist was abducted in the southern town
of Khan Yunis. Several hours later he was released without harm by the
Fatah-aligned Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Hours earlier, in the first such attack Fatah operatives destroyed the
UN club along the beach in Gaza City. The operatives assaulted a security
guard and tossed grenades inside the UN recreation center. No Westerners
were in the club, one of the few places that serves alcohol in the Gaza
Strip.
"The abductions and attacks are part of a Fatah campaign to destroy any
chance of Palestinian Legislative Council elections," a PA official said.
"The PA could announce the postponement of elections over the next two
days."
On Monday, PA Information Minister Nabil Shaath held out the prospect
that PLC elections would be postponed or canceled. Shaath told the PA daily
Al Ayyam that the PA would insist on the establishment of polling stations
in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.
On Dec. 30, a Fatah-aligned group released a British aid worker and her
parents kidnapped two days earlier from the southern town of Rafah. The
group had warned that foreigners would continue to be targeted in subsequent
abductions.
Palestinian sources said the PA caved in to demands for jobs and money
by the Fatah group. The PA Interior Ministry has denied this.
On Monday, Fatah gunmen raided a PA courthouse and other government
installations in Rafah. Witnesses said the gunmen and their supporters, who
did not face any PA police resistance, looted the buildings. Police,
however, foiled an attempt by Palestinian gunmen to abduct two Japanese
nationals in Rafah.
