The three journalists abducted by Palestinian militants in the Gaza area have been released. Caroline Laurent of French women's weekly Elle, Alfred Yaghobzadeh of photo agency SIPA and Yong Tae-young of Korean public broadcaster KBS were kidnapped on Tuesday from a Gaza City hotel by an armed group linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) that claimed to belong to the Jericho Brigades. The abductors released the journalists on Wednesday.
The three journalists were abducted from the Al-Dira hotel in reprisal for the raid which the Israeli army carried out on a prison in the West Bank city of Jericho in order to capture PFLP chief Ahmad Saadat, who was being held for the 2001 murder of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi. Local reports said gunmen attempted to break into the offices of German television network ARD in Gaza City, causing some damage.
"We welcome the release of our colleagues," Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "But we remain alarmed by the rising trend of abductions of journalists by Palestinian militants over the past year."
Responsibility for the abduction of the journalists was claimed by a PFLP-linked armed group that said it belonged to the Jericho Brigades. A spokesman for the group said, "We want the Israeli forces to withdraw from Jericho and we ask the French government to intervene to protect Ahmad Saadat and the other prisoners."
Earlier on Wednesday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) gave its backing to calls by Palestinian journalists to end the strategy of kidnapping which Palestinian extremists have been using to terrorise foreigners in the region. The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate in Gaza issued a strong statement of condemnation following the kidnapping of the three journalists in Gaza.
"The call by the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS) is a demand for humanity and tolerance which will be supported by journalists everywhere," said Robert Shaw, IFJ Communications Director. IFJ said that it will work closely with the PJS, which has branches in Ramallah in the West Bank and in Gaza, to try to lift the pressure currently being exerted on journalists.
IFJ said that journalists and other civilians not concerned with the tense condition of Palestinian and Israeli politics should not become scapegoats for a breakdown in political dialogue. "Journalists and media staff must be free to go about their business without fear of intimidation," said Shaw. "The tasks facing Palestinian journalists to try to report in a professional way from the region is enormous," said Shaw. "The last thing they should face is a further threat of kidnapping or illegal detention".
"As always when the political fabric begins to tear it is often journalists and people who work with them who become victims, said Shaw. "We support our Palestinian colleagues in their efforts to lift this unacceptable pressure on media." IFJ was particularly concerned over the conditions in which local Palestinian journalists are working given that many of them now have to take the place of evacuated foreign journalists.
Four journalists were kidnapped last year in the Gaza Strip. All were freed by their kidnappers.
