From The Gulf Times:
Via Terry
Sat, April 16, 2011 2:40:04 AMQaeda-linked group kills abducted Italian activist
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Qaeda-linked group kills abducted Italian activist
Hamas yesterday found the body of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist who was killed by Al Qaeda sympathisers in the Gaza Strip, raising questions about Hamas’s control over the beleaguered enclave.
Two men were arrested and others were being sought for the abduction and killing of Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, who was found strangled in an abandoned house, Hamas officials said.
A group aligned with Al Qaeda, known as Salafists, had threatened on Thursday to execute Arrigoni unless their leader, detained by Hamas last month, was freed.
“Gaza is safe and I want to assure all visitors to Gaza that they are safe and secure,” Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, told a French journalist.
“The crime that took place was an isolated incident ... and we will enforce the law against the perpetrators.”
Hamas vehemently opposes the Salafists who espouse a more extreme form of Islam and appear to be attracting recruits - including from among its own ranks.
Salafists see Hamas as insufficiently zealous, have attacked Internet cafes and want Christians expelled. They deplore Hamas for considering ceasefires with Israel and exploring political accommodation with secular Palestinian rivals.
Saeb Erekat, an aide to US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, called the killing “a dark page in Palestinian history” and appealed for national reconciliation.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denounced the kidnapping as an attempt “to harm international solidarity with besieged Gaza and to damage the image of the Palestinian people”.
There was also a shiver of fear that radicals who want Gaza to be a theocracy are bold enough to challenge Hamas over what they consider its lack of religious fervour. There was clear outrage among ordinary people in Gaza over the killing of the Italian activist who had helped local fishermen and farmers. Reuters
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=428662&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56
Via Terry
Sat, April 16, 2011 2:40:04 AMQaeda-linked group kills abducted Italian activist
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qaeda-linked group kills abducted Italian activist
Hamas yesterday found the body of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist who was killed by Al Qaeda sympathisers in the Gaza Strip, raising questions about Hamas’s control over the beleaguered enclave.
Two men were arrested and others were being sought for the abduction and killing of Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, who was found strangled in an abandoned house, Hamas officials said.
A group aligned with Al Qaeda, known as Salafists, had threatened on Thursday to execute Arrigoni unless their leader, detained by Hamas last month, was freed.
“Gaza is safe and I want to assure all visitors to Gaza that they are safe and secure,” Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, told a French journalist.
“The crime that took place was an isolated incident ... and we will enforce the law against the perpetrators.”
Hamas vehemently opposes the Salafists who espouse a more extreme form of Islam and appear to be attracting recruits - including from among its own ranks.
Salafists see Hamas as insufficiently zealous, have attacked Internet cafes and want Christians expelled. They deplore Hamas for considering ceasefires with Israel and exploring political accommodation with secular Palestinian rivals.
Saeb Erekat, an aide to US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, called the killing “a dark page in Palestinian history” and appealed for national reconciliation.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denounced the kidnapping as an attempt “to harm international solidarity with besieged Gaza and to damage the image of the Palestinian people”.
There was also a shiver of fear that radicals who want Gaza to be a theocracy are bold enough to challenge Hamas over what they consider its lack of religious fervour. There was clear outrage among ordinary people in Gaza over the killing of the Italian activist who had helped local fishermen and farmers. Reuters
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=428662&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56
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