The Hamas-run Palestinian government said on Tuesday that it was working to release Alan Johnston, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Gaza correspondent, saying that it knew who was responsible for his kidnapping.
”This issue is on its way to being solved, God willing. We have definite information regarding the parties behind this kidnapping,” said Ghazi Hamad, a government spokesperson.
Johnston (44) was seized by armed men as he drove home in daylight from the BBC office in Gaza City on Monday afternoon. The BBC was alerted after he failed to make a pre-arranged telephone call to check in; his grey Kia car was later found abandoned in the street a few minutes’ drive away.
It is understood that the BBC received a number of indirect assurances on Tuesday that Johnston was alive and well. It is thought he is being held in Gaza.
Hamad did not identify which group was behind the kidnap, although criminal gangs have been responsible for a string of abductions of foreign journalists and aid workers in Gaza in recent months. The gangs have often demanded money, jobs or weapons and ammunition from the Palestinian authorities.
”Mostly, they ask for employment, sometimes for weapons and bullets,” said Khaled Abu Hilal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian interior ministry. ”I think this time will not be different.”
He said that although the criminal families were well-known to the authorities, the factional rivalry that has plagued Palestinian politics in the past year had prevented a security crackdown.
No one had been convicted of involvement in any of the recent kidnappings, he said.
”There is a problem of following up orders. It is part of the internal problem relating to the political situation.”
Talks between Hamas and its rival Fatah were still under way on Tuesday night in Gaza to conclude a long-awaited coalition government due to be announced by the weekend.
Yesterday the BBC’s Middle East bureau chief, Simon Wilson, travelled to Gaza City and met with the Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, as well as Egyptian security officials.
He was due to meet with senior figures from the Fatah movement in Gaza on Tuesday night.
Johnston was the only foreign journalist to live full-time in Gaza, where he has worked for the past three years. He had been in Jerusalem over the weekend for a dental appointment and only returned to Gaza on Monday morning. He is widely regarded as a respected and experienced journalist.
One BBC colleague said: ”He has worked in Kabul under the Taliban. He’s an experienced hand, he’s not gung-ho.” He was due to finish his posting at the end of this month. – Guardian Unlimited Â