Posted on 08/14/2006 10:27:48 AM PDT by slowhand520
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two foreign journalists working for the Fox News television channel in Gaza on Monday, a witness said.
The witness, a Palestinian who worked with the two journalists, said one of them, a producer, was an American, and the other, whose nationality he did not know, was a cameraman.
The Fox News bureau in Jerusalem said it was checking the report.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction.
The witness said two vehicles blocked the journalist's transmission truck in the center of Gaza City and a masked man put a gun to the bodyguard's head, forcing him to the ground.
The kidnappers then sped away with the two journalists.
Similar incidents in the past in Gaza have ended with the release, usually within hours, of kidnapped foreign journalists or aid workers.
Many of the abductions were carried out by Palestinians pressing a grievance against the Palestinian government or its security forces
So whats the latest? I can't find any news about this!?
11:20AM FNCers Kidnapped In Gaza: "...Concerns That This One May Be A Bit Different""Several foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza in recent months. All of them have been released within hours without harm," the AP said yesterday. But on Tuesday's Good Morning America, ABC correspondent Wilf Dinnick hinted that this kidnapping may be different. Dinnick said:
"It is not clear who kidnapped them or what their demands are. In the past, kidnappings have gone on with western journalists in that area. Usually the captors demanding some sort of job or trying to make a political statement. But there are concerns this one may be a bit different, considering three Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped triggered this entire Middle East conflict. And there are concerns that these Fox News journalists could be held for a lot longer and that those demands may be much different than they have been in the past."
11:30AM FNCers Kidnapped In Gaza: Network Reps Meet With Palestinian President & P.M.
"Palestinian security forces hunted for two abducted Fox News journalists Tuesday, and the Palestinian president and prime minister were intervening in an attempt to gain their release," the AP reports.
"President Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas-led government, scheduled meetings with the news organization's Jerusalem bureau chief, Eli Fastman, and its chief correspondent in Israel, Jennifer Griffin. Investigators said the president's office was closely following the probe into the abduction."
More: "An investigator in the case, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize the investigation, said suspicions were focusing on a renegade group from an established Palestinian militant organization, but he declined to give further details. The car in which the journalists were taken has been identified, he said."
2:12PM FNCers Kidnapped In Gaza: New Zealand Sends Diplomats To Jerusalem The media in New Zealand is keeping a very close watch on the kidnapping of cameraman Olaf Wiig and correspondent Steve Centanni.
"Olaf's New Zealand passport and the man that he is are the two single greatest assets he has," Wiig's wife Anita McNaught tells the Manawatu Standard. The paper reports that NZ "diplomatic staff in Cairo, Egypt, and Ankara, Turkey, had been sent to Jerusalem to work with Palestinian and British authorities to secure the men's release."
spoke to his brother Sven just last week. "He had just arrived in Gaza and was enjoying being back in Gaza -- he'd been there several times and really liked the place, the people -- and being away from Jerusalem," Sven tells the NZ Herald.
2:15PM FNCers Kidnapped In Gaza: Security Forces Working To "Put An End To It Soon" As noted this morning, the Palestinian president and prime minister met with FNC's Eli Fastman and Jennifer Griffin earlier today. The AP now has this update: "The prime minister assured the Fox News representatives that Palestinian security forces would use all their power to 'put an end to it soon,'
5:44PM FNCers Kidnapped In Gaza: "Police Said No One Has Come Forward With Demands"
Monday's kidnapping of two Fox News employees is clearly different from other recent incidents in Gaza. "No one has claimed responsibility for Monday's kidnapping, and police said no one has come forward with demands," the AP says. "In previous kidnappings of foreign journalists, militants have quickly contacted authorities demanding government jobs, money or the release of jailed relatives. The journalists were usually freed a few hours after being seized."
Also new: "U.S. officials said they were in touch with Abbas' office, Palestinian security officials and the Israelis to see if they can help secure the journalists' release." "Certainly we are concerned about their safety, that is why we are working to ensure their freedom," said Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, a spokeswoman for the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem...
8:09PM FNCers Kidnapped In Gaza: Al Jazeera Calls For Centanni & Wiig's Immediate Release
Shep Smith mentioned Monday's kidnapping on Tuesday's Fox Report:
"The Al Jazeera news channel is now calling for the immediate release of a Fox News Channel correspondent and his photographer, who were kidnapped on monday in Gaza. Gunmen seized Steve Centanni and his photographer near the Palestinian Security Services. No one yet has claimed responsibility for their kidnapping."
Thanks very much.
Is there going to be a ping list for this thread? If so, would you please put me on the ping list?
Thanks for the ping. Still praying.
I think an AQ group has them, its not a "normal" west bank terror group that has them.
I'll be happy to keep checking mediabistro.com and posting their updates. They seem to be the only place with info for now.
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Please add me to this ping list.
Thanks
Done.
Please add me to the list. Thanks.
How horrible for his family and I can only image the fear this man is going through.
Keep praying that they're all surrounded by the armour of God.
Please add me to your ping list.
Thanks so much.
Please add me to any ping list. I'm sick with worry for these two men.
Please add me to the ping list. Thanks
Somebody please get jackv a subscription to the National Enquirer to satisfy her insatiable id.
Please add me to your ping list.
Thanks, Irish
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