GAZA CITY, 13 March 2007 — A British TV journalist for the BBC was kidnapped by armed gunmen in the volatile Gaza Strip yesterday, Palestinian security sources said.
Alan Johnston, who is the BBC’s primary journalist in Gaza and one of the few Western reporters to be permanently based in the increasingly lawless territory, was snatched from his car in Gaza City.
Johnston had just arrived in Gaza after crossing Erez, the main border post between the territory and Israel, and went to his office in Gaza City where he picked up a car to drive to his house nearby, they said.
Armed men stopped his car as he headed home, forcing him out and driving off with him in their car, they said. The BBC declined to comment on the report.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office in London said “consular staff in Gaza are checking with the local authorities, but we are unable to confirm anything more at the moment.”
The Palestinian Interior Ministry and the presidency ordered all security services and police to search for the missing journalist, while officials slammed the abduction. Outgoing Interior Minister Said Siam of Hamas condemned the kidnapping as a “criminal act” and promised to catch those responsible.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged Arab nations yesterday to normalize ties with Israel now, saying this could hasten the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Do not wait for peace to come before you normalize relations with us. Normalize relations now and peace will come,” she said in Washington.
Earlier, Livni cautiously welcomed a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace deal, dubbed the Saudi initiative, that calls for the Arab world to normalize ties with Israel in return for Israel withdrawing form all occupied Arab land. “There are positive elements in the Saudi initiative, but some of its clauses are contrary to the principle of two states,” Livni said.
— With input from agencies.
