GAZA (PIC)– Fighters affiliated with Hamas’s powerful armed wing the Izzidin al Qassam Brigades have finally succeeded in releasing BBC correspondent Alan Johnston from captivity in Gaza.
Johnston had been held hostage by a small group calling itself “Army of Islam” believed to be affiliated with a powerful Gaza clan.
Efforts to release Johnston had repeatedly failed due to what one Hamas official described as “negative interference and obstruction” by Palestinian Authority security circles loyal to Dahlan and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
“You know the security apparatus affiliated with the treasonous camp did everything to keep Johnston in captivity in order to embarrass the government.
“Today Hamas is proud to announce that it has fulfilled its promise to free Johnston unharmed” said Fawzi Barhoum a Hamas leader in Gaza.
Hamas’s Chief Khalid Mishaal said the freeing of the BBC journalist showed that Hamas had brought order to the Gaza Strip by seizing power in the territory last month.
“We have been able to close this chapter which has harmed the image of our people greatly. The efforts by Hamas have produced the freedom of Alan Johnston” Mishaal told Reuters by telephone from Syria.
Referring to the American-backed Ramallah-based Abbas-Dahlan Fatah regime Mishaal said “it showed the difference between the era in which a group used to encourage and commit security anarchy and chaos and the current situation in which Hamas is seeking to establish law and order.”
Johnston 45 was handed over by his captors to Hamas officials before dawn Wednesday.
He appeared well and in good health minutes after his release from captivity.
“I was released a couple of hours ago. It was an appalling experience as you can imagine. Occasionally quite terrifying… Now it really is over” Johnston told BBC News from the home of interim Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya.
He added: “I am hugely grateful to the people who worked [for the release]. I think I am OK. To keep my mind in the right place was a constant battle.”
Johnston was kidnapped in mid March by a previously-unknown group calling itself “Army of Islam.”
The group affiliated with the powerful Doghmush clan had demanded a huge ransom in return for releasing the BBC correspondent whose abduction infuriated the vast bulk of Palestinians who often pride themselves on their hospitability toward foreigners.
During the past few weeks the kidnappers demanded that British authorities release an al-Qaida-affiliated prisoner held in Britain in connection with terrorism charges.
Most recently after Hamas officials threatened to free him by force from the Doghmush clan’s stronghold Johnston was shown wearing a suicide belt with the warning he would die if that happened.
Hamas said Monday that its fighters had launched an operation aimed at freeing the abducted British journalist.
“The clocks have begun ticking toward the release of Alan Johnston” said spokesman Ghazi Hamad. “The operation of the Interior Ministry Executive Forces has started and they are tightening the siege on the people involved in his kidnap.”
Hamas sources said earlier a Palestinian civilian was killed in an exchange of fire with the group holding Johnston in the Gaza Strip.
No other casualties were reported in the fighting which came after Hamas gunmen took up positions around the Army of Islam’s stronghold stepping up the pressure on the group to release Johnston.
Barhoum accused Johnston’s captors of smearing the Palestinian people’s reputation and of seeking to prove to the world that “we are a group of militias that fight each other to gain personal ends.”
Since seizing control of Gaza last month Hamas has demanded Johnston’s release.
On Monday Hamas arrested the spokesman of the Army of Islam giving it a potentially valuable bargaining chip in its efforts to release Johnston.
Johnston has been held far longer than any Western journalist abducted in Gaza. Hamas has said it knows where to find him but has not raided the hideout for fear he will come to harm.
Meanwhile the Israeli government is voicing “consternation” and “worry” at the public relations victory Hamas has achieved following its success to free Johnston.
One Israeli journalist said “Undoubtedly the Israeli government which is hell-bent on isolating Hamas is now worried that the release of Johnston will greatly enhance the image of the movement.”
The journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity added that “Johnston’s release is also bad news for PA leader Mahmoud Abbas who is trying to de-legitimize Hamas in coordination with Israel and the United States.”
