Police blockade on Gaza border crossing lifted

MIDDLE EAST: The Gaza-Egypt border crossing was closed for several hours yesterday and European security monitors fled the terminal after Palestinian police imposed an armed blockade on the crossing in protest over the death of one of their colleagues in a clan feud.

Elsewhere in Gaza, three British hostages were released, two days after they were kidnapped by gunmen, a senior British official said quoting Palestinian security forces. He said he was waiting to see them at a meeting point in Gaza City. Human rights worker Kate Burton and her visiting parents Hugh and Helen were kidnapped in the chaotic southern town of Rafah.

In the latest sign of anarchy in Gaza, some 100 policemen stormed the border crossing yesterday morning, firing in the air. As the police moved in, European monitors who are charged with overseeing the Israeli-Palestinian agreement under which the terminal operates, took cover in a nearby Israeli army base. The police left after several hours.

The trouble began on Thursday when members of a powerful Gaza clan attacked a police station in an effort to free a family member who had been arrested for drug-dealing. A policeman was killed in the ensuing shoot-out.

The same clan attacked the police station again yesterday in another effort to free their relative. This time, a 14-year-old boy was hit in the head and killed by a stray bullet.

The border crossing provides Gazans with their only access to the outside world and is vital in efforts to rehabilitate the shattered local economy.

The opening of the terminal was negotiated last month by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, during a visit to the region.

Earlier yesterday, Gaza police officials had said that no group had taken responsibility for the abductions of Kate Burton, an aid worker, and her parents, and that they had not received any ransom demands.

"These are the enemies to the Palestinian people," Gaza police chief Ala Housni said at a news conference. "We will get them. If we have to use force we will."

A series of kidnappings in recent months - usually of aid workers and journalists, who are released after several hours - as well as the vigilante-like attacks on police stations and the recent takeover of electoral offices by armed gunmen, have all undermined Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

He pledged to restore law and order when he was elected almost a year ago. Mr Abbas and his divided Fatah party face a major challenge from Hamas, which has promised to improve law and order, in parliamentary elections on January 25th.