Members of the powerful Dughmush | "Legitimate Paleostinian faction." My head just spun around 360 degrees. I'm going to step outside to projectile vomit some pea soup now. |
| Johnston pays 'thank-you' visit to Abbas "Yeah. Thanks a heap." |
The group has nothing to do with Islam, he stressed. "When its members kidnapped the British reporter, they demanded $2 million and a plot of land from the Palestinian Authority," he said. "But when Hamas came to power, the gang knew that they would never get anything out of us."
A clan member told The Jerusalem Post that the five-point agreement with Hamas recognized the Army of Islam as "the weapon of mujahideen [holy warriors] against Jews, Crusaders and apostates." He said the deal also banned
Another member of the clan said Mumtaz Dughmush decided to release Johnston after he received assurances from Hamas that he and his relatives would not be killed. "We wanted to avoid a bloodbath in the Gaza Strip," he said. "It's forbidden for a Muslim to shed the blood of his Muslim brother."
Mumtaz, his brother Mu'taz and one of his top aides, Ahmed Mathloum, are all wanted by Hamas for involvement in the killing of Hamas operatives over the past two years. Mathloum, who is known by his nickname,
Ahmed Bahr, a top Hamas official in the Strip, said Mumtaz Dughmush decided to release Johnston when he realized that Hamas was about to use force. "On Tuesday night, Mumtaz realized that the game was over when our forces surrounded his house in the Sabra neighborhood [of Gaza City]," he said. "He asked for a fatwa from a sheikh stating that foreigners must be protected when visiting Muslims." Two of the Gaza Strip's top religious leaders, Abdel Hamid Aklouk and Sliman al-Dayeh, each volunteered to issue a fatwa that would