Kidnapped Gaza police chief released

Palestinian militants freed the Palestinian chief of police today hours after kidnapping him in an ambush that deepened the sense of chaos ahead of an announced withdrawal from Gaza by Israel.

Ghazi Jabali was kidnapped earlier in the day by militants who exchanged gunfire with his bodyguards on the highway five three miles south of Gaza City.

Two bodyguards were wounded.

Officials of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority and his ruling Fatah party who were involved in the negotiations said they had secured his release. No details of the agreement for his freedom were known.

People gathered outside the Bureij Refugee Camp where Jabali was originally reported to have been taken.

He was released from a rural area near the refugee camp and driven in a convoy of Palestinian security forces and Fatah officials toward Gaza City.

The officials said the abduction was related to an internal feud between Jabali and the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committee which was pressing for more jobs in the police force for its members.

As head of the police forces, Jabali has been identified as Arafat’s “enforcer”, known for cracking down on any dissenters.

Jabali has made many enemies over the years among Palestinians who see him as corrupt, but he’s earned a reputation for tough leadership.

The resistance committee is a grouping of independent fighters who left established militant groups or security forces. It has no clear political agenda or ideology.

The abduction added to the problems of the Palestinian Authority, which has been undermined by Israeli attacks on the police and other arms of its power base, while the influence of militant organisations has grown.

The chaotic competition among rival militants and official security forces increased following Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision to pull Israeli settlers and armed forces out of Gaza, captured in the 1967 Mideast war, by the end of next year.

Jabali has been the target of several attacks this year. He escaped harm in April when militants planted a bomb at the door of his home.

Earlier, men loyal to Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian security chief, burst into Jabali’s office and assaulted him.

In February, a gunfight between Jabali’s officers and Dahlan loyalists erupted in Jabali’s headquarters in Gaza City. One policeman was killed and 10 other people were wounded.