Five Swedish children abducted to Gaza

By PETER ENAV
The Associated Press

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A relative of the father said the children, ages 6 to 16, will not be allowed to return to Sweden, because the Gaza family does not want them to live a Western lifestyle — and destroyed their Swedish passports.

Swedish and Palestinian officials are trying to resolve the family drama, which pits Islamic custom against Western law. However, growing unrest and lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip raise questions about the ability of Palestinian authorities to take action.

The children's mother, Elisabeth Krantz, said her ex-husband, Ismail Nowajah, a Gaza native, removed the children from their home in the southwestern Swedish town of Kungsbacka on June 4, under the pretext of taking them on a vacation to Cairo, Egypt.

However, 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. She said they are being held against their will.

Nowajah authorized his cousin, Nasser Khail, to speak for him. He was adamant that the children would not be allowed to return to Sweden.

"If the mother wants to see her kids, she can come here and see them, because we will not let them go back to Sweden," Khail said. "We even burned their Swedish passports."

He said the family does not want the children, especially the teenage girls, to live in the West.

Sara, 16, is the oldest, followed by 15-year-old Miriam; 12-year-old Zakaria; 9-year-old Amena; and 6-year-old Adam.

Khail said the children are living with various Nowajah relatives, because the father does not have a job or an apartment. Khail said the family would not allow reporters to speak to the children.

Krantz, a 39-year-old nurse, said the couple was finalizing their divorce when her husband told her he wanted to take the children to Cairo. She said Nowajah, 44, promised to bring the children back and offered to take along one of Sara's friends as a guarantee.
 
Sara's friend said she was left behind in Egypt, and was cared for by Nowajah's relatives before being returned to Sweden.

Krantz said she and Nowajah were divorced by a Swedish court on June 24. She said Nowajah has Swedish citizenship.

She said the children have lived in Sweden all their lives and, apart from Sara, do not speak Arabic.

Krantz said she had a brief telephone conversation with Sara after the children were sent to Gaza and has also spoken to 6-year-old Adam.