UK human rights worker and parents kidnapped in Gaza

JERUSALEM - A British human rights worker and her parents were kidnapped yesterday close to the Gaza border with Egypt in the latest of a series of seizures by militants of foreigners in the Strip.

The woman, Kate Burton, and her parents - thought to be visiting her for the Christmas holidays - were apparently forced out of the car they were using in the southern border town of Rafah and into another vehicle, said to have been a white Mercedes, which drove northwards.

Ms Burton, who according to unconfirmed reports comes from Scotland, and is believed to have a master's degree in international law, has worked for the Al-Mezan, a Palestinian human rights organisation in Gaza for the last three to four months as co-ordinator for international affairs.

The majority of kidnap victims in Gaza have been released unharmed after a few hours though the Foreign Office this month upgraded earlier warnings by advising Britons against "all travel" to Gaza because of the earlier kidnappings of foreigners.

Earlier it had cautioned only against "non essential" travel.

A British diplomat said last night he remained "optimistic" that the Burton family would be freed soon.

The British Consulate-General in Jerusalem said it had been in touch with the Palestinian police and preventative security organisations and believed the militant group who had taken the family was a small one called the "Black Panthers." The British official added that it was believed the militants' motive was to press the Palestinian Authority for salaried jobs and also to protest against the prevention of suspected militants crossing the Rafah border point.

The Palestinian Authority are controlling the border in a regime closely monitored by the European Union.

Although al-Mezan has strongly criticised Israel for its military operations in Gaza and for turning the Strip into a "big prison" it has also been forthright in its criticism of Palestinian lawlessness including the recent spate of kidnappings.

It issued a strong statement after the most recent kidnapping as a continuation of the state of insecurity and disrespect of the rule of the law.

It called on the Palestinian Authority "in such cases ...[to] bring kidnappers to justice under any circumstances."

In that incident, on December 21, the Dutch Principal of the American School in Gaza, Hendrik Taatgen, and his assistant, Brian Ambrosio, were seized in northern Gaza by militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation for Palestine (PFLP).

The group said the abduction had been to press the PA to release leaders jailed in the West Bank town of Jericho for the killing of the Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001.

The two men were released unharmed some eight hours after their capture.

Mohammed Abdullah a Rafah fieldworker in Al-Mezan said that Ms Burton had been on leave for Christmas for the past few days and he had been unaware of her whereabouts.

Samir Zahut, co-ordinator for the organisation, said that he thought Ms Burton was about 23 and that she might have wanted to show her parents houses in Rafah demolished by the Israelis during the last five years of conflict.

The kidnaps have been among the most serious signs of the Palestinian Authority's weak grip on law and order and European diplomats, as well as some Palestinian NGOs, have in private strongly criticised the Palestinian leadership for not doing more to tackle the problem.

One staff member of the Al-Mezan said: "We are trying to make communication with the police and the political parties. Up to now we don't have any clear information about what's going on. We are trying to call her on her mobile but it's closed."

- INDEPENDENT