Word: palestinians
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Freeing Johnston, say Palestinian analysts, may help pave the way toward the release of another Gaza hostage, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, because the Army of Islam is among the militant groups that helped kidnap Shalit a year ago. But he would probably be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and Israeli officials must first overcome their aversion to dealing with Hamas, a group they still brand as "terrorists...
Number of Palestinian government employees who have received only partial pay since March 2006, when Israel began freezing Palestinian funds in protest against Hamas...
...Hamas' efforts to free the journalist weren't necessarily altruistic. Democratically elected to power in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza in January 2006, Hamas is locked in a fierce struggle with the Fatah movement loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is backed by the West. This rivalry culminated in Hamas ousting Fatah's armed forces from Gaza after six days of gun battles last month. Abbas retaliated by firing Hamas Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh and his cabinet, but Haniyeh has refused to step down. The Islamic militants of Hamas are anxious to show Palestinians...
...Army of Islam, Johnston said, was "a small jihadi group that wasn't so interested in the Israeli-Palestinian issue as much as getting a knife into Britain." The group, numbering several hundred, claim to be inspired by al-Qaeda's anti-Western agenda, but Hamas leaders refer to them as kidnappers and guns-for-hire patronized by Fatah security forces loyal to Palestinian President Abbas. It was only after Hamas defeated Fatah militia in Gaza last month, said Johnston, that his abductors became edgy and nervous...
...continues to run a Hamas phantom government in Gaza. In contrast to Abbas, whose own authority in the West Bank is shaky, Hamas can now rightly say that it is fully in control of Gaza. Freeing Johnston will help Hamas achieve a measure of international respectability, and, according to Palestinian analysts, the move may pave the way toward the release of another Gaza hostage, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped a year ago by several militants, including members of the Army of Islam. Hamas claims it is also trying to persuade smaller militant outfits in Gaza to cease firing...