Global Insight Perspective | |
Significance | Alan Johnston was by far the longest-held Western abductee in the radicalised and impoverished Gaza Strip and increasingly became a pawn in the ongoing power struggle between Hamas and other fringe groups in Gaza. |
Implications | Following Hamas’ recent bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip and its continued isolation by the international community, the group has been keen to highlight its competence and ability to govern; Johnston’s release is thereby likely to be seen by the faction as a significant propaganda triumph. |
Outlook | The humanitarian situation in Gaza has continued to deteriorate since Hamas seized power and most areas of Gaza remain unsafe for Westerners, despite promises made by Hamas authorities to re-establish law and order. |
Kidnappers ‘Forced’ to Release Johnston
BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was held hostage by the radical group Jaish al Islam (‘Army of Islam’), was released in the Gaza Strip last night, following 16 weeks in captivity. In a televised news conference with Hamas leaders, Johnston spoke of his “terrible ordeal” whilst being imprisoned by the radical al-Qaida-inspired group. In recent weeks, Hamas had been increasingly closing in on the radical group, which is frequently associated with the powerful Dagmoush Bedouin tribe in southern Gaza, and whose continued presence in the territory, combined with its defiant attitude, had been a continuous headache for Hamas officials. Johnston was handed over to the commander of Hamas' military wing after the Islamist movement cut a deal with Jaish al-Islam. Under the terms of the deal, Hamas agreed not to arrest the kidnappers and confirmed it would release one of the group’s leaders, Khattab al-Maqdissi, according to the Agence France-Presse agency.
Johnston’s release came 10 days after he appeared in a video wearing an explosives belt, which he indicated his captors had threatened to detonate should any attempt to rescue him transpire. A hitherto little-known group, Jaish al-Islam had threatened to kill Johnston unless Britain and Jordan released Islamist prisoners, including those linked to al-Qaida (see Palestine Authority: 9 May 2007: Islamist Group Issues Demands for Release of British Journalist in Gaza). According to Johnston, his captors “had a jihadi agenda” and were “not so interested in Israel [and] Palestine”, also suggesting that "they were interested in getting a knife into Britain in some way”.
Outlook and Implications
Since Hamas seized power in Gaza over two weeks ago following weeks of bloody violence between the armed wing of the movement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and secular Fatah fighters linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Islamist faction has remained isolated and subject to an international boycott. Abbas—who accused Hamas of staging a “coup” over the annexation of the Gaza Strip—dissolved the national unity government and dismissed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Millions of dollars in withheld tax revenues have since been released by Israel to Mahmoud Abbas in support of his decision to exclude its Islamist rival from power. Hamas, however, continues to face difficulties imposing law and order in Gaza, where clan politics have increasingly started to resurface.
The rescue of Johnston is a clear propaganda coup for Haniya, who was seen holding the correspondent’s hand aloft in media pictures that will be broadcast around the world. Despite assertions from a senior aide to Abbas that Johnston’s release was an elaborately planned plot to elevate Hamas in the eyes of international opinion, the Islamist movement will be hoping to benefit, at least in the short term, from its assertion that it is now cracking down on lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, which is currently the most peaceful it has been for some time. Hamas has also taken this opportunity to raise the possibility of further negotiations over the release of the captive Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, who was abducted in June 2006 from a border post near Gaza. The international community is unlikely to succumb to Hamas's overtures—the movement has at best bought itself very limited room for manoeuvre.