"Last week, State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, assumed the role of voice of the world when he said, "I don't think the world views Hamas any differently as a result of this" -- this being Hamas's success in securing the release of Alan Johnston. McCormack may be right, but I'd say the jury is still out. What might shift global opinion however, is the claim that one of America's closest Palestinian allies, Mohammad Dahlan, had his representative, Samir Musharawi, intervene three times to prevent Alan Johnston's release.
This has been known to Conflicts Forum since June 19 but could not be made public at that time. The information was disclosed during a meeting in Beirut, in which the following exchange took place between senior British Member of Parliament, Michael Ancram, and Hamas's representative in Lebanon, Usamah Hamdan:
Michael Ancram: You mentioned that Alan Johnston's captors
were a family...
Usamah Hamdan: The Dagmoush family.MA: That they were
associated with Dahlan.
Would Dahlan have known? UH: Yes. He knew this, he does.
And for three times we came to the point to release
Alan Johnston and by telephone call from [Samir Musharawi],
who is Dahlan's man, they stopped that.
While Dahlan's motives are a matter of speculation -- he may have felt that postponing Johnston's release would undermine Hamas's ability to provide effective security in Gaza -- the fact remains that Johnston remained captive for as long as Mohammad Dahlan's Preventative Security Services remained in operation in Gaza.
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