GAZA, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- A 12-year-old Palestinian boy kidnapped 20 days ago has been successfully rescued, said a Palestinian security official on Tuesday.

    Brigadier Rashid Abu Shbak announced in a news conference in Gaza that the preventive security forces succeeded in locating the place where the boy was held hostage and that five kidnappers were arrested.

    Wearing his blue school uniform, Mohamed Shweikh entered the news conference room with Abu Shbak. He was received with hugs, tears and kisses by his father Anwar Shweikh.

    Shweikh, who studies at a Gaza elementary school, was kidnapped 20 days ago. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 50,000 US dollars otherwise Shweikh would be killed.

    Shweikh told reporters that the kidnappers were driving a car and he was taken to an unknown place after he was kidnapped after leaving school.

    "They didn't beat me but they were always scaring me that if my family didn't pay the money, they were going to kill me," said the nice-looking boy, who declined to reveal the names of the kidnappers.

    "Kidnapping children, taking them as hostages and asking for money is the first case of its kind that happens in Gaza, and this,of course, rings an alarm that the absence of the jurisdiction of law is the main reason," said Abu Shbak.

    Abu Shbak also said the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) andthe security forces "will keep faithful to our dream and future andwe call on our people to cooperate with the security forces to implement the law."

    The West Bank and Gaza Strip have witnessed a deterioration of the security situation during the past months amid criticism against the rampant corruption in the PNA and the security apparatuses. Enditem