October 12, 2005
From the desk of Jane Galt:Kidnapped!
This isn't as dire as the headline makes it sound:
American, British journalists abducted in GazaMasked Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two foreign journalists, an American and a Briton, in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in the latest sign of lawlessness in the coastal territory after Israel's pullout last month.
The two, both working for Knight Ridder newspapers, were seized by assailants who stopped their car near the town of Khan Younis and took them away at gunpoint, their Palestinian translator, Ziad Abu Mustafa, told Reuters.
Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said Palestinian security forces had mounted a search for them. There was no word on the motive for the kidnapping. The journalists' names were not immediately known.
A number of foreign journalist and aid workers have been abducted in the Gaza Strip in recent months by militants, mostly from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, pressing complaints about jobs and corruption in the Palestinian Authority.
All have been released unharmed, usually within hours.
As a journalist, I should probably be horrified. But somehow it strikes me as funny, and even hopeful, that these armed militants are abducting journalists for the sole purpose of making them listen while they bitch about the government.
Posted by Jane Galt at October 12, 2005 10:59 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksI almost feel sorry for them, if they listen to the kidnappers and tell the stories the gov't will possibly kill them and at least bar them from their terrortory. If they don't, the jihadi types might kill them for collaborating with the gov't.
The reason I don't really feel sorry for them is because the 'journalists' have been caricaturing the conflict for years now. After all, they shouldn't be afraid of "militants". It's not as if they're terrorists like the Israelis.
Do you suppose this process would work here? We could kidnap Dan Rather and get him to admit to using fake documents, for example!
"...abducting journalists for the sole purpose of making them listen while they bitch about the government."
Hmm...
No need to kidnap "journalists" to get them to listen to you bitch about the government in the US. All you need to do is tell them you want to bitch and they will show up in droves and hang on your every word. Check Cindy Sheehan for confirmation.
No, around here we'd have to kidnap them to get them to listen to anything good about the government. And kidnap the editors to get the story run.
I almost feel sorry for them, if they listen to the kidnappers and tell the stories the gov't will possibly kill them and at least bar them from their terrortory. If they don't, the jihadi types might kill them for collaborating with the gov't.
I don't think Fatah members are exactly "jihadis." Step your game up.
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