2 Gaza Journalists Briefly Held After Paper Assails Sweep

Palestinian police briefly arrested two leading Gaza Strip journalists Thursday hours after their newspaper appeared with an editorial comparing a crackdown on Arab militants to Israeli repression, journalists said.

The arrests were the latest in a sweep against Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters after Islamic suicide bombers killed seven Israeli soldiers and a U.S. woman Sunday. Palestinian officials say about 300 Islamists have been detained so far.

Palestinian troops and plainclothes police raided the Gaza City offices of Hamas’ Al Watan newspaper in the morning and detained Chief Editor Saiyed Abu Musameh, who is also a Hamas leader, and his deputy, Ghazi Hamad, journalists said.

Witnesses said policemen beat Hamad when he resisted arrest.

The two were questioned for several hours and then released, the journalists said.

The newspaper’s latest edition carried headlines about the arrest campaign and front-page photos of the wreckage of Israeli vehicles devastated by the bomb attacks.

A commentary equated the crackdown with Israeli sweeps against Hamas and Islamic Jihad before Palestinian self-rule.

“God, there is no difference. During the era of the occupation there was the fear, repression, pursuit, arrests and confiscation of property and liberties,” it said.

“Today, things are not too different. Only the faces have changed and that this speaks Arabic while that spoke Hebrew.”