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
Found this, no new info.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060821/ap_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_journalists
Thanks for the ping. I see FOX is mentioning it quite often in their coverage now.
Continued and fervent prayers for Steve and Olaf...
Thanks for the ping. Even if it is nothing we appreciate knowing that.
Still praying....
Thank you very much, I hear absolutely nothing on my stations.
Day 8 (Monday) Updates from mediabistro.com:
10:23 AM FNCers Kidnapped In Gaza: 1 Week Ago FNC correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig were kidnapped one week ago today. Here's the last report Centanni filed for FNC, during the 9am hour on Monday, Aug. 14.This morning, Public Eye wonders if we're growing tired of journalists-under-fire stories. "Maybe it's just us, but it seems the kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in the Gaza Strip last week has gotten far less attention from the press than other high-profile kidnappings," Vaughn Ververs says...
8:05 PM Steve & Olaf: "The Longest Period" That Any "Foreigners In Gaza Have Been Held"
Brit Hume on Monday's Special Report:
"It has now been one week since our Fox News colleagues, national correspondent Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig were kidnapped in Gaza. It is the longest period that any kidnapped foreigners in Gaza have been held. But we still have no information on Steve or Olaf's whereabouts, or their condition, although no one has threatened to harm them. Indeed, no one has claimed responsibility for taking them and no demands have been made in exchange for their release. Over the weekend, Steve's brother made an appeal on behalf of the Centanni family for his release and Olaf's wife, herself a freelance journalist, remains in Gaza awaiting for word of her husband. Fox continues to work with the Palestinian authority and Palestinian security forces find Steve and Olaf and to free them."
8:17 PM Steve & Olaf: New Zealand Media Updates When Anita McNaught met with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas late last week, he assured her that Olaf Wiig was alive and well. "I think he had assurances from some groups who say they know that," Roger Wiig says.
"A 'huge amount' of activity in Gaza City is working towards the release" of the two men, McNaught says.
Stuff.co.nz: NZ diplomat Peter Rider says: "We got a lot of assurances that people are working very hard on this and I was very please to get a personal commitment from the Prime Minister that he is doing everything he can and exercising a lot of authority over his staff and forces to try and find what has happened to Olaf and his Fox News colleague." TVNZ: "Palestinians held in Israeli jails in Gaza have appealed to their countrymen to help find" the two men... "Anita McNaught, Fox News staff and the Red Cross, have a statement from Palestinian prisoners in Gaza condemning the kidnapping."
Dear God in heaven, it is the eighth day.
No one knows anything.
Fox gave an undate this evening.
LoL....
Is that like an update, only with no new information? ;)
It must be very somber in the Fox studios.
Still praying, but getting more and more angry.
Pretty much like your report. What happened. No contact made with Fox.
No contact yet, huh? Damn. Well, we'll just have to keep on praying for them and their families. I hadn't heard anything today at all. :(
Any coverage or reports on other networks?
"Still praying, but getting more and more angry."
Yes, me too. I feel so badly for the families. It is the cruelest thing to not know. Dear God, stop this madness PLEASE!! Amen
Checking in with a prayer.
I saw Amy Kellogg give a report from Israel this morning and it worried me. It seemed as if her voice was shaking and when the camera came back to her face, it looked as if she was struggling to maintain composure.
The report was not about Cenatanni and Wiig, but just the same, I am somewhat worried.
I hope to God it was my imagination.
As soon as I posted the above, I find this:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE210082006
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 21/008/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 219
22 August 2006
Palestinian Authority: Fear for safety -- abducted journalists
Amnesty International calls for the immediate release of journalist Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig, who were abducted by Palestinian gunmen on 14 August in the Gaza Strip.
The gunmen who abducted the two media workers must release them immediately and the Palestinian Authority (PA) must spare no efforts to secure their release and to bring to justice those responsible for this and dozens of other previous abductions.
Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American reporter, and Olaf Wiig, a 36-year-old cameraman from New Zealand, were seized by Palestinian gunmen as they were driving near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City.
They are the latest victims of abduction by Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip and, unlike in most previous such cases, to date no group is known to have claimed responsibility for their abduction. The vast majority of foreign nationals kidnapped in the past two years were released unharmed within hours, though some were held for several days.
The fact that the two are still missing a week after their abduction and that no group is known to have acknowledged holding them raises concerns about their safety.
The organization called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to take urgent and concrete steps to put an end to the recurring practice of abductions in the Gaza Strip and to ensure that prompt and independent investigations are carried out into this and previous abductions, with a view to bringing the culprits to justice.
Amnesty International also calls on the PA to investigate all other abductions by Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
To date in virtually every single abduction -- of foreigners and Palestinian alike -- no one is known to have been brought to justice.
The impunity systematically afforded by the PA to the armed groups responsible for abductions and other crimes has undoubtedly contributed to the spread of such crimes. It is high time that the PA lived up to its responsibilities and fulfilled its obligation to put an end to such practices and to restore the rule of law in the Gaza Strip.
A change in the mindset of the PA and its security forces is needed to replace the culture of impunity with a culture of accountability.
The organization is gravely concerned at the increasing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, with frequent abductions, killings and other abuses resulting from endemic power struggles and in-fighting between rivaling PA factions, security forces and a multitude of armed groups. As armed groups linked to the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas, to the governing Hamas party of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and to other political factions and powerful families continue to battle each other, the PA security forces have so far proved unable or unwilling to stop and prevent abuses by armed groups and to hold them accountable for their crimes.
AMy needs our prayers. BIG time. This needs to be resolved soon.
I forgot to add this to the above...
DAMN Them!
Prayers up. I hope we hear something soon.
Up thread somewhere I wondered what the chances were they could be in Iran....
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