Report: Palestinian captors release 2 French women, 3 men still held http://goldwater.mideastreality.com/2004/jul/0.gif \* MERGEFORMATINETGunmen abduct the five from a coffee shop in Gaza; two security chiefs quit over kidnappings; Jenin Martyrs' Brigades free Gaza police chief. July 16, 2004 Haaretz Original Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/452469.html%20or Palestinian gunmen released two kidnapped French women late Friday, but continued to hold three Frenchmen hostage to press demands for reform in the Palestinian government, said Palestinian officials who were monitoring the negotiations. Earlier, the officials said the gunmen agreed to release all five hostages being held in the offices of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in the southern town of Khan Yunes. Witnesses saw two French women leaving the offices of the Red Crescent Society in Khan Younis, where they had been held for three hours, escorted by Palestinian security officials. The three men held hostage were not immediately sighted, they said. Tue five were kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen late Friday in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security officials said. Witnesses said the five were taken to the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in the center of the town. The witnesses said the building was surrounded by about 25 armed men. A large number of masked men raided our building and called for us to leave. There were three foreigners with them, two women and one old man. [The militants] are still occupying the building, said Haidar Shuber, an employee. Palestinian security officials said that the kidnapping was carried out by the Abu al-Rish Brigades, linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction. A Palestinian security official said the preventive security chief in Gaza, Rashid Abu Shbak, and the head of Palestinian general intelligence, Amin Hindi, had submitted their resignations to Arafat because of the state of chaos and the lack of action by the Palestinian Authority to make reforms. It was unclear if Arafat had accepted the resignations. The kidnapping was the third in the Gaza Strip in less than 10 hours. Earlier Friday, Col. Khaled Abu Aloula, Director of Military Coordination in the southern part of the territory was taken from his car as he returned to Gaza City from the town of Khan Yunis. Palestinian security officials said the kidnappers were Palestinian policemen who had recently been fired from their jobs. The officials said that earlier in the day Aloula had refused their request to help reinstate them. Kidnappers released Gaza police chief Ghazi al-Jabali on Friday following negotiations with the Palestinian Authority on their demands for anti-corruption reforms, a senior security official said. He is now under the protection of (Preventive Security chief) Rashid Abu Shbak and has been released, the official said, some two hours after Jabali was abducted in an ambush on Gaza's coastal road. The official said Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had agreed to the demands of the kidnappers, the Fatah-related Jenin Martyrs Brigades, to dismiss Jabali and put him on trial for suspected corruption. Palestinian sources told Israel Radio that during his interrogation, Jabali admitted to stealing $8 million and raping women. The kidnappers claim that his remarks were recorded, and are threatening to release the tapes if Arafat doesn't dismiss Jabali. Palestinian militants seized Jabali earlier Friday after ambushing his convoy and taking him to an unknown location, Palestinian security sources said. Two of Jabali's bodyguards were wounded and the rear window and tires of a jeep blown out during what a Palestinian security man at the scene said had been a volley of bullets from more than 10 gunmen on Gaza's coastal road. We gave three years to the Palestinian Authority to carry out reforms. We waited a long time. But they didn't do anything. We are doing this in our way, Abu Iyad, a spokesman for the brigades, said on Al-Jazeera satellite television. Ghazi Jabali was kidnapped to hold him accountable for his mistakes against our people. Israel Radio reported that members of Arafat's bureau conducted negotiations with Mahmoud Nashevat, who headed the group of abductors. Jabali was travelling on Gaza City's coastal road when several cars cut off his convoy. Armed Palestinians put him in another vehicle and sped away, the security sources said. According to Israel Radio, the vehicle headed in the direction of the el-Bureij refugee camp. Army Radio later quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Jabali was being held at gunpoint in the camp. As Gaza's police chief for most of the past 10 years since limited self-rule was established, Jabali has been the target of several attacks by militant groups vying for influence in the Gaza Strip. In April, an explosion destroyed the front entrance of his Gaza home. Jabali had left the house shortly before the blast. A month before that attack militants fired at his office. He was unhurt. Jabali has long been on Israel's wanted list over alleged involvement in anti-Israeli attacks. The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the kidnapping. A short time before the abduction, a jeep belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was seized in the same area, Israel Radio reported.