Gaza Strip: Two Foreign Teachers Captured and Released in the Same Day

The Palestinian gunmen have released the two foreign teachers captured while driving to school, Reuters informed.

Apparently, the two kidnapped persons were the principal and vice-principal of the American School, frequented by Palestinians with better financial situations. Because of the incident, the children were sent home.

"They were intercepted by between two to three other cars and then taken away," one witness told the news agency.

Over the past year, several journalists and aid workers have been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip and all of them have been released.

The kidnapping of the two teachers emphasizes President Mahmoud Abbas' failure of keeping things under control following the September pullout and comes shortly after the Bethlehem city hall was occupied by members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group affiliated with the Fatah movement.

A few members of the group said that they acted that way to force the Palestinian Authority to pay the wages of the 300 militants in the Bethlehem region, who have no other income.

Another incident took place in Khan Younis, where at least 100 Palestinians stormed the Fatah movement headquarters.

"We are giving you 24 hours. After that we will firstly: The Fatah party will be on a high state of alert. Secondly: No foreigner will be allowed to enter (Gaza) regardless of their work and that is within 24 hours of stating this. Thirdly: We will work towards boycotting the elections, municipal, legislative and factional if the fighters don't get our rights. Fourthly: We will leave the Fatah party if we don't get our rights and those who have done us wrong will know who they are doing wrong to," said the masked gunman in Khan Younis.

Politic analysts, quoted by Reuters, warned that Mahmoud Abbas's repeated failures are jeopardizing the January 25 parliamentary elections and are giving the extremist movement Hamas an unexpected boost.