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Italian activist freed in Gaza
01/01/2006 21:43 - (SA)
Sakher Abu El Oun
Gaza City - An Italian peace activist was freed unharmed on Sunday after becoming the fourth European to be kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in less than a week in the increasingly lawless Gaza Strip.
Alessandro Bernardini had been part of a group of about 20 Italians on a mission designed to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
But, shortly after arriving in the city of Khan Yunis, he found himself being bundled into a vehicle by masked gunmen who promptly sped him away.
The security sources said the kidnappers and Bernardini had been traced several hours later to a house in Mowassi, an enclave just outside Khan Yunis.
'Kidnappers didn't return fire'
Witnesses said the security forces fired into the air during the rescue, but the kidnappers didn't return fire and appeared to have run away.
A statement from the Italian foreign ministry confirming the release quoted minister Gianfranco Fini as saying he was pleased.
The statement said Fini had asked Rome's consulate in Jerusalem to convey his thanks to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas for the action, which had led to a "rapid and positive" resolution of the matter.
A source at the Italian consulate in east Jerusalem said that Bernardini's release had been secured with the help of negotiations involving the office of Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei as Abbas was out of the country.
Disengagement
The delegation had been due to hold talks with finance ministry officials after the activist was kidnapped.
Luisa Morgantini said: "We arrived here this morning and wanted to go to the settlements" in southern Gaza.
The MEP said: "We came here to see the situation after disengagement as we are for a Palestinian state."
The kidnapping came barely a day after a British human rights activist and her parents were released after being abducted in the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
Kate Burton and her parents - Hugh and Helen - were freed more than 48 hours after they were seized by gunmen in a move - which was greeted with anger by the Palestinian leadership - which was attempting to attract aid workers to Gaza.
Palestinian interests
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat branded the abductions as "shameful" and damaging to Palestinian interests.
He said: "I'm happy that this despicable, shameful act is over. These people are friends and I hope that this will be the last such event."
More than a dozen foreigners had been abducted in Gaza in the last few months although all had been released unharmed, usually within a matter of hours.
The kidnappers had usually released the victims having submitted their demands for either jobs or payment in Gaza, one of the most impoverished and overcrowded strips of land in the world.
- AFP
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