KATE BURTON, the freed British hostage, yesterday vowed to go straight back to her human rights work among the Palestinian people.

Burton, 25, who was held captive with her parents for nearly 60 hours before their release late on Friday, dismissed the abduction as “just one incident” in the chaotic Gaza Strip.

She said she was sorry her parents had had such a “desperate experience” during a Christmas visit to see her and that they were tired after their ordeal. But she said she “remains committed and passionate about working alongside the Palestinians to improve their external image”.

The Palestinian Authority echoed her sentiments by appealing for this to be the last kidnapping of westerners. “These events harm our international credibility and strengthen Israel’s pretext to undermine peace,” said Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

In the hours before her release, Burton, whose interest in the area started with a summer spent on an Israeli kibbutz four years ago, was filmed on video standing passively beside one of her abductors.

The man, wearing a hood and with an automatic rifle strung around his neck, called on Britain to put pressure on the Israelis to stop bombing raids on Gaza in retaliation for rockets being fired into Israel. Two Palestinians were killed yesterday in the latest Israeli attack.

The gunman said his gang was freeing the hostages as “a gesture of good faith”, but warned that western observers due to attend this month’s Palestinian Authority elections could also face kidnap. The video was released to Al-Jazeera, the Arabic news channel. It is believed its transmission was enough to secure the family’s release.

Burton stood alongside her kidnapper wearing an off-white rollneck jumper, in marked contrast to kidnap videos from Iraq where hostages are usually made to wear orange jumpsuits.

When she was released she sported a new keffiyeh scarf. It is the custom for Palestinian kidnappers to make gifts to their freed hostages: Adam Pletts, the last Briton to be held and released after a few hours, was presented with a baseball cap.

Burton’s abductors called themselves the Mujaheddin Brigades, Jerusalem Branch, a previously unknown group. Sources in Gaza said yesterday that the abduction was carried out by a disaffected group with links to Abbas’s ruling Fatah party, which faces defeat by the more militant Hamas movement in the elections.

The Burtons were moved three times during their captivity but say they were treated well. One source said the Palestinian security service took over the investigation on Friday and soon discovered where the family was being held. Another claimed the kidnappers had released their captives 15 minutes before a deadline that would have triggered the storming of their hideout by troops.

The kidnappers either escaped or were allowed to go free as part of a negotiated release that is also thought to include the broadcast of the video.

The Burtons’ ordeal began last Wednesday. Hugh Burton, 73, a Brussels-based economist, and his wife Win, 55, were on the last day of a visit to see their daughter when their taxi was ambushed near the disused Gaza airport. On their release, the family was driven to the British consulate in Jerusalem to be debriefed.

The family issued a statement, saying: “We are in good health and have been treated extremely well through the ordeal. Kate plans to stay in the region and continue working with the Palestinian people.”

Her decision will not please the Foreign Office which even before the abduction had changed its travel advice to warn Britons against all trips to the Gaza Strip because of the continuing threat of kidnap.

Ghada Snunu, of the Al Mezan centre for human rights, said Burton’s continued work there was vital. “She is responsible for contacting donors, writing reports to them, fundraising, proposal-writing and editing English documents,” said Snunu. “Losing her is losing something really very, very essential.”

Sian Keene, a friend of Burton who taught English to Chilean children with her on their gap year in 2000, said: “It is typical of Kate that she would go back to work. She is very warm and very caring.”

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