Hamas Makes Arrests in BBC Reporter’s Case

By STEVEN ERLANGER

JERUSALEM, July 2 — Hamas officials in Gaza today arrested a spokesman for the shadowy Army of Islam, the group that claims to have kidnapped the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, on March 12.

The arrest of the spokesman, Abu Khatab Maqdisi, and two other men was believed to be an effort by Hamas to help force the release of Mr. Johnston, who was last seen in a video released a week ago by the Army of Islam, wearing what appeared to be an explosive belt. Mr. Maqdisi had said that Mr. Johnston, 45, would be killed if Hamas or anyone else tried to rescue him.

The Army of Islam group is part of the powerful Dagmoush clan, and is believed to be led by an increasingly religious and radical member of the family, Mumtaz Dagmoush. Hamas, the Islamist party which took over control of Gaza after a battle with its more secular rival, Fatah, has promised to bring well-armed and autonomous clans like the Dagmoush under control. Gazans want more security on their streets and an end to the power of the armed clans and criminal gangs.

But threats from Hamas have made Mr. Johnston even more valuable to his kidnappers, who are said to fear that once he is released, they will come under attack from Hamas. One member of the Dagmoush family was killed in a gun battle 10 days ago, and others have been arrested; for their part, the Army of Islam claims to have captured Hamas-affiliated students and has threatened to make public unspecified “damaging information” about Hamas leaders.

While the Army of Islam coats its demands in Islamic language, Palestinian Authority officials and key Hamas leaders like Mahmoud Zahar have said that the group’s pronouncements are either ill-educated or a sham to cover a ransom demand of several million dollars.

Hamas faced further difficulties in Jerusalem, where the Israeli security agency, Shin Bet, announced today that it had broken up what it said was a Hamas “command center” in East Jerusalem over the last several months.

Eleven Hamas members were arrested in the operation, and all but one of them have Israeli identity cards, making it much easier for them to travel around Israel, the agency said today.

Hamas organizes religious and charitable institutions that are also used to recruit members and sometimes armed fighters. Hamas is regarded by Israel and many western governments as a terrorist group.

Israeli officials said they had also seized about $95,000 in cash. The agency said that some of the people who were arrested were leaders of charitable organizations that Israel accuses of funneling money from abroad to Hamas operatives here; one of the arrested people owned a glass factory.

In the last 18 months, the agency said, more than $225,000 was transferred to Hamas in East Jerusalem from abroad through moneychangers, charities and other organizations.

Last year, Israel arrested five senior Hamas officials from East Jerusalem, including some elected to the Palestinian legislature in January 2006; the five are still being held.

In Gaza, a Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said today that there was no connection between the Jerusalem charities and Hamas, and that the people arrested by the Israelis were religious, not political, figures. “Israeli intelligence is attempting to make an illusory security victory,” he said.

Mr. Zuhri also denied that Hamas had arrested the Army of Islam spokesman, Mr. Maqdisi, with the idea of exchanging him for Mr. Johnson; rather, he said, Mr. Maqdisi was detained after a gunfight.

In the West Bank, Mr. Zuhri said, Palestinian security forces loyal to Fatah arrested three senior Hamas members, including Ahmed el-Haj, a legislator, and two men, Ahmed Doulah and Shaker Omarrah, who were together in a car in Nablus.

Israel troops attempting to make an arrest at 2 a.m. in the Jenin refugee camp shot and killed a leader of the city’s Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a Fatah-affiliated group. The man — Muhmmad Aija, 25 — was deputy to Zakaria Zubeidi, a Fatah member who is wanted by Israel.

The army said that Mr. Aija was carrying an M-16 with a telescopic sight when he was killed, but he did not fire it, an army spokeswoman said. The soldiers were shot at with small arms and some form of explosive device was thrown, she said, and the soldiers shot Mr. Aija “before he could shoot them.”