Hamas Arrests Suspects in Gaza Library Bombing

The Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority has arrested several suspects in the recent bombing of the YMCA library in Gaza City. According to the February 22 Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam, the suspects were members of the militant Army of Islam, which has claimed responsibility for the 2007 kidnapping of BBC reporter Alan Johnston and the 2006 capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who remains a hostage.

Early in the morning of February 15, more than a dozen men overpowered and tied up two security guards at the YMCA library, which housed about 10,000 books and was a popular cultural center for both Christian and Muslim students. The intruders took the guards to another part of the city and set off a bomb in the library, causing severe damage to the building and destroying most of the collection.

One of the guards, Abdel Mu’ti Abu Khoussa, said in the February 17 Jerusalem Post that the assailants also stole computers and other equipment from the YMCA office. The other guard, Rizek Ajrami, told the Associated Press that the explosion left a crater in the floor of the library and tore holes in the walls and ceiling. A second explosive device was found at the entrance to the YMCA auditorium and was dismantled by police.

”The explosion blew up the whole library,” Gaza YMCA director Issa Saba told the IRIN News Service February 20. “We have been working for two days to salvage what we can from the wreckage before the rains come.” He insisted that Muslim-Christian ties remained strong in the neighborhood.

Hamas immediately promised to investigate the incident. At a meeting of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza February 19, acting PLC speaker Ahmad Bahar (Gaza City-Hamas) condemned the assault against the library as well as the killing last October of Rami Ayyad, the librarian of the Gaza Holy Bible Association, the Ma’an News Agency reported February 19.

The Jerusalem Post reported that sources in Gaza claimed that the incident was in retaliation for the reprinting of cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad in a number of Danish newspapers. The cartoons’ original publication in the September 30, 2005, edition of the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten resulted in widespread protests and attacks on European embassies.

Posted on February 22, 2008. Discuss.

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