According to the report, the journalists were kidnapped as part of internal struggles between various terrorist factions in the Palestinian Authority.
The never-before heard of Holy Jihad Brigades is apparently a militia headed by Zakaria Dughmush, a terror chief reportedly involved in attacks on Americans and sub-contracted by Hamas to kidnap Gilad Shalit. When Hamas took the reigns of deciding Shalit’s fate, Dughmush’s militia decided to gain leverage by kidnapping the journalists. They were released when Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh promised to allow the group to participate in deciding Shalit’s fate.
The fact that a second party will be issuing demands complicates the negotiations for Shalit’s release and is likely to further up the already steep-price the Olmert government is reportedly planning to pay to win.
An alternative explanation, offered by Debka File, a repository of unconfirmed intelligence reports, posits that the Holy Jihad Brigades were assigned the task of reshuffling the cards once negotiations for the release of hundreds of PA Arabs from Israeli prisons had extracted the largest amount of concessions from the Israeli government.
The kidnapping of the journalists, Debka argues, in fact provided Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh with good public relations, as the kidnapped journalists met with him and praised his actions on their behalf. This also acts to complicate Shilat's release as his kidnappers are now seen as liberators.
Shalit’s birthday is Monday. Members of his brigade will commemorate the day together and a separate commemoration is also taking place at the IDF reservists’ protest tents erected opposite the Knesset.
The Shalit family, however, says they will not celebrate Gilad's birthday until they can do so together with him upon his return.