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Abducted children returned for Christmas
« on: Dec 25th, 2004, 1:29am » |
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Abducted children returned for Christmas
Father took them to Gaza
Friday, December 24, 2004 Posted: 8:44 PM EST (0144 GMT)
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Five Swedish children abducted by their Palestinian father more than six months ago and taken to the Gaza Strip have flown back to Sweden for a dramatic Christmas Day reunion, their mother told The Associated Press.
The children left from Tel Aviv's international airport on Friday afternoon and arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, just after 9:30 p.m. (2030 GMT), their mother, Elizabeth Krantz told the AP.
She said Swedish officials telephoned her, and said that her five children, along with their father, Ismail Nowajah, had arrived and were driving to Kungsbacka in southwestern Sweden.
"They are on their way home," she said. Her children left Tel Aviv earlier in the day, flying to Vienna and then to Copenhagen aboard Austrian airlines.
For Sweden, the news was like a national Christmas gift with the country's newspapers and news channels posting "extra" editions on their Web sites.
"It will be the best Christmas ever. It's the best Christmas present I ever can have," she said in a telephone interview, adding that she would meet with the children in an undisclosed location before returning with them to her home.
Krantz's ex-husband, Nowajah, a Gaza native, removed the children from their home on June 4, saying they were going on vacation to Cairo, Egypt.
The next day Nowajah sent them by taxi to his sister's home in Gaza City, Krantz said. She said her ex-husband called her two days after leaving Sweden, and told her she would never see the children again.
Sara, 16, is the oldest, followed by 15-year-old Miriam, a diabetic; 12-year-old Zakaria; 9-year-old Amena, and 6-year-old Adam.
Krantz had limited contact with them during their captivity and said they were held against their will. The Swedish government worked to secure their release and the case drew major media attention, with headlines trumpeting their being held against their will.
Krantz said Swedish diplomats in Israel were behind the deal to bring the kids back in time for the Christmas holidays, despite little communication about her case during the six months they were in Gaza.
"I expected Christmas would be very boring. Now my children are on the way," she said, elated. "It will be a big, big party," she said. "We will open the champagne and celebrate!"
Krantz said the children will live with her when they return.
The Foreign Ministry did not say if Nowajah had struck a deal with the Swedish government or if he would be granted immunity for taking the children from their mother.
Swedish officials declined to say whether they met Nowajah and the children at the airport and escorted them to neighboring Sweden.
In September, Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds raised the issue with senior Palestinian Authority officials during a visit there. In August, a Swedish court charged Nowajah in absentia with arbitrary conduct with children.
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Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
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