GAZA CITY, 3 June 2007 — A military operation to free kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston would be justified if peaceful means fail, a senior Palestinian official said yesterday.

“The government should win the release of Johnston,” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said of the reporter who has been missing in the Gaza Strip for over 80 days.

“Should they fail through dialogue and peaceful means, in my opinion, a security operation will be justified,” Erekat said. The militants holding Johnston released the first video footage of Johnston on Friday, in which he said he was in good health and was being treated well.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniyeh both called for Johnston’s immediate release after the video was published on the Internet.

He was the only Western journalist based permanently in Gaza City when he was abducted at gunpoint on March 12, and is by far the longest-held Westerner in the increasingly dangerous and impoverished territory.

Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinian shops and homes were damaged, and water, sewage and electrical lines cut in the West Bank town of Nablus yesterday by Israeli Army blasting of concrete barriers blocking entrances to the crowded Old City, officials at City Hall said. The pre-dawn explosions left thousands without running water and electricity, though repair teams were out by mid-morning.

Said Handiyeh, a Nablus City Council member, estimated the damage at $100,000. He said a 60-year-old woman was slightly hurt by shattering glass.

The military, which conducts frequent arrest raids against fighters in Nablus, said the concrete blocks impeded soldiers from operating within the city. Three Palestinian Cabinet ministers came to the city to review the damage.

“Israel has been ruling the Palestinian people for 40 years, and what is happening to Nablus is out-and-out war,” said one of the three, Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti. “Israel...is choking the city with barriers.” In another development, Hamas has nominated one of its members to be Palestinian interior minister, officials said yesterday, a choice likely to be opposed by Western states.

But in considering the nomination of Ghazi Hamad, President Mahmoud Abbas must also judge whether a veto by his Fatah faction would risk stirring more fighting between the two groups.

As interior minister, Hamad would be in charge of 30,000 members of the Palestinian security forces, boosting Hamas’ influence at the expense of Fatah, its partner in a unity government. He currently serves as Cabinet spokesman. Fatah and Hamas officials said Abbas had discussed the nomination with Prime Minister Haniyeh of Hamas.

One aide to Abbas told Reuters, however, that it seemed unlikely Abbas would agree to the appointment of Hamad.

Under the terms of the accord between Hamas and Fatah that set up the coalition unity government in March, the post of interior minister is supposed to be filled by someone nominated by Hamas but not affiliated to either of the factions.

The previous interior minister, Hani Al-Qawasmi, resigned two weeks ago after the biggest surge in bloodshed between Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah in months. Officials said Qawasmi, an independent academic, had been frustrated by competition from powerful Fatah rivals for control of the armed contingents. Haniyeh took over the Interior Ministry portfolio temporarily from Qawasmi.

Filling the position had been one of the main obstacles to forming the current coalition government.

Hamad, formerly a local Hamas leader in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, was the editor of a pro-Hamas newspaper before becoming Cabinet spokesman.

He has spent time in Israeli jails over his membership of Hamas.

He was also jailed for his Hamas activities by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in 1996.

— With input from agencies