Hamas Releases Kidnapped Fatah Official

Hamas militants on Monday released a top Fatah official, shortly after kidnapping him in the latest wave of factional unrest in the Gaza Strip. The kidnapping happened hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas defiantly insisted he would push ahead with new elections despite increasingly chaotic factional violence.

The kidnapping of Sufian Abu Zaydeh, a former Cabinet minister with Abbas' Fatah Party, had threatened to derail a fragile day-old truce between Fatah and Hamas.

Abu Zaydeh was seized while he was driving home in the northern Gaza Strip, Fatah officials said. Less than an hour later, Hamas released him, saying it was a "goodwill gesture." Fatah confirmed Abu Zaydeh, 48, was safe.

Abbas said he is pushing ahead with early elections — despite factional fighting that intensified after his initial call for a poll — and appealed for international help in restarting peace talks with Israel.

Abbas said elections are the only way to end crippling international sanctions imposed on Hamas because of its refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel. Hamas says it won't allow Abbas to topple the elected government, CBS Radio News correspondent Robert Berger reports.

Abbas said he is ready to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at any time. "We need each other," he said, adopting a much warmer tone than in the past.

Abbas spoke at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who heaped praise on the Palestinian leader and urged the international community to rally behind him.

Abbas hopes a peace breakthrough with Israel can persuade his people to support him in a showdown with Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls parliament and the Cabinet.

Abbas announced Saturday that he is seeking new presidential and parliamentary elections to end months of deadlock with Hamas, whose refusal to moderate has isolated the Palestinians internationally and driven them deeper into an economic crisis.

Hamas has accused Abbas of trying to illegally topple its government. Fighting that had been raging between Hamas and Abbas-allied security forces in Gaza worsened after Abbas' announcement.

Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said Monday that Abbas' insistence on holding elections amounted to a "coup against sovereignty and democracy."

Though the week-old wave of violence in Gaza appeared to be diminishing Monday after warring Palestinian groups said they had negotiated a truce, sporadic violence continued into the evening, and a Fatah supporter was killed in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya.

Dr. Said Judeh of Kamal Radwan Hospital said the man died in a standoff between Hamas and Fatah militants, and that five others were wounded in clashes in the same area. Masked gunmen from both sides deployed around Jebaliya after the man's death, checking cars and taking up firing positions.

Far fewer gunmen were seen in the streets than in the preceding days, but fighting still broke out in the middle of Gaza City early Monday, when about two dozen masked militants from the rival groups, armed with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers, faced off in a gun battle that left a 16-year-old bystander with a bullet wound in the neck.

Also in Gaza City, masked militants shot and seriously wounded a Fatah member. Hamas loyalists burned down the shop of a brother of a local Fatah leader in northern Gaza, and kidnapped another brother. Masked gunmen also kidnapped the brother of a Fatah lawmaker, officials said.

Fatah militants responded by burning down a Hamas office and kidnapping a local Hamas leader.

Despite the violence, both sides said they would honor the cease-fire. "We are trying to halt all breaches," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

In a statement released by Hamas' headquarters in Syria, the group said its exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal, spoke to several regional leaders and key mediators — including Qatar's emir and Egypt's intelligence chief — to discuss "how to contain the current tension in the Palestinian area."

The statement provided no details, but said Mashaal stressed Hamas' commitment to "avoid inter-Palestinian fighting, dialogue as the only way to solve differences and problems with Fatah, and forming a national unity government."

Tensions between Hamas, which won January parliamentary elections, and Fatah, which controls the presidency, have been high since talks on forming a coalition government broke down in late November.

Fighting spiraled out of control after unknown gunmen killed the three young sons of a Fatah-allied security chief last week. Since then, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas was shot at by unknown gunmen, the foreign minister's convoy was also targeted and mortar shells were launched at Abbas' Gaza office.

Late Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a top security officer affiliated with Fatah, Col. Adnan Rahmi, was discovered in northern Gaza hours after he disappeared, Palestinian medical officials and his family said. No group took responsibility, but Rahmi's family blamed Hamas for the killing.

He was buried Monday after a funeral procession attended by hundreds of Fatah militants and security officers.

In his joint news conference with Blair, Abbas said the violence would not deter him from going ahead with elections. "It is clear that we are going for early presidential and legislative elections," he said. "Nothing stands against that. We are a democratic people, so let's go to the people."

Abbas, 71, also hinted he might seek re-election, after having told aides repeatedly in the past he would not seek another term. Abbas was elected president in 2005 and Hamas won a separate parliament vote a year later. "We want to examine the will of the people. Do they still trust those they have chosen?" Abbas said.

A poll published Sunday indicated Abbas was in a tie with the most popular Hamas politician, Haniyeh. Abbas' aides said he hopes his new decisiveness, coupled with progress in negotiations with Israel, could boost his popularity.

Abbas has said in the past he is willing to meet with Olmert, but appeared in no rush. On Monday, his tone was decidedly warmer. "I am ready to meet with Prime Minister Olmert at any time. We have to meet. We need each other, and we have to deal with our problems," Abbas said.

Abbas said he talked with Blair about the "need to intensify Arab and international efforts" to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Blair was effusive in his praise of Abbas. "I believe what is important following your speech is that the international community mobilize its efforts to support you in your office," he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli military officials said Monday that dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of Hamas militants recently left the Gaza Strip to receive advanced military training in Iran.

Israel waged a five-month military offensive in the Gaza Strip over the summer after Hamas-linked militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid. More than 300 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, most of them militants, while only one Israeli soldier was killed in the fighting.

The mass training of Hamas fighters in Iran is a new development reflecting the growing alliance between Shiite Iran and the Sunni Hamas movement, Israel warned.

Prime Minister Haniyeh of Hamas returned last week from a visit to Iran, which has already funded the cash-strapped Palestinian government with $120 million and pledged several millions more.

Haniyeh met with the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." Haniyeh hailed Iran for providing Palestinians with "a strategic depth."

According to Israeli intelligence, Hamas is taking advantage of a lull in violence with Israel, following a cease-fire reached last month, to prepare for a future military confrontation. Israel believes that Hamas is modeling itself after Hezbollah.