SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2007 23:04 MECCA TIME, 20:04 GMT

Group claims BBC reporter killed

Johnston was kidnapped over a month ago by armed men in Gaza City [AFP] An unknown Palestinian group has said that it has killed a British journalist kidnapped over a month ago in Gaza City, but the claim could not be confirmed. bodyVariable350="Htmlphcontrol1_lblError"; In a statement sent to news organisations on Sunday, "The Brigades of Tawheed and Jihad" said that it killed Alan Johnston, the BBC's Gaza correspondent, to support demands for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. bodyVariable300="Htmlphcontrol2_lblError"; However, the BBC and the Palestinian government both said there was no evidence to back up the claim. "The BBC is aware of these reports," the corporation said in a statement. "But we have no independent verification of them." The group claiming to have killed him is unknown in Gaza, but the name has been used elsewhere in the Middle East by organisations linked to al-Qaeda. "This party that issued the statement about the so-called killing is unknown to the security services," Hani Kawasmeh, the Palestinian interior minister, told a news conference in Gaza City. "There is no information to confirm the killing of Johnston until now." Johnston was snatched at gunpoint in Gaza City on March 12. Since then there had been no demands from his captors or any word on his condition. He has been missing longer than any other foreigner kidnapped in Gaza. The only foreign reporter still based in Gaza, he was snatched just weeks before he was scheduled to end his three-year stint there. Other news organisations withdrew their foreign-born reporters because of the deteriorating security situation there.

And the BBC story:

 BBC's concern at Gaza man's fate

Sunday, 15 April 2007, 19:42 GMT 20:42 UK  

A Palestinian group calling itself the Al Tawhid Al Jihad brigade has issued a claim that it has killed BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston.

The BBC says it is aware of the reports and is deeply concerned, but stresses there is no independent verification.

In a statement faxed to news agencies, the group contrasts the attention given to Alan Johnston's captivity with that given to Palestinians held in prison.

Mr Johnston was abducted as he returned home from his Gaza office on 12 March.

The BBC has issued a statement saying it is deeply concerned about what it is hearing.

"But we stress that at this stage," it says, "it is rumour with no independent verification".

The Palestinian Authority said it, too, had no information confirming the fate of Alan Johnston.

Little known group

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat repeated a call for those holding Mr Johnston to free him.

"Such despicable acts of abducting foreign journalists and others continue, the only (thing) that this is doing is destroying us as Palestinians, destroying the just cause of the Palestinian people," he told reporters.

"So I urge those who abducted Johnston, instead of circulating rumours, and I hope these rumours are only rumours, is to release him immediately and without any conditions."

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London said they were also aware of the reports and were urgently looking into them.

The group claiming to have killed Mr Johnston is little known in Palestinian areas, the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says.

Its name means Brigades of Holy War and Unity.

Protests

Since Mr Johnston's abduction, there have been many calls by both governments and individuals for his safe release.

Palestinian journalists staged several strikes in protest at his abduction and rallies were organised by Mr Johnston's BBC colleagues.

The BBC held a day of action on Thursday with al-Jazeera, CNN and Sky News joining a special live programme.

The unprecedented broadcast paid tribute to Alan Johnston's work and detailed the dangers for correspondents working in the Gaza Strip.

An online petition calling for Mr Johnston's release has gathered more than 30,000 signatures.

Alan Johnston's father, Graham, in a second broadcast appeal for his son to be freed immediately, told his kidnappers: "Please think about what this is doing to my family".

Kidnappers have abducted dozens of foreigners in Gaza, but none have been held for as long as Mr Johnston.

The 44-year-old, who is originally from Scotland, joined the BBC World Service in 1991 and has spent eight of the last 16 years as a correspondent, including periods in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

He has lived and worked in Gaza for three years and was the only Western reporter permanently based in the often violent and lawless territory.

His posting in Gaza had been due to end in late March.

 

Missing BBC correspondent 'alive'

Missing BBC reporter Alan Johnston is still alive, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says.

"Our intelligence services have confirmed to me that he's alive," Mr Abbas told reporters in Sweden.

Johnston, 44, has not been seen since he was seized at gunpoint on his way home in Gaza City on 12 March.

On Sunday, an unknown militant group said it had killed him, but the BBC said and Palestinian officials said they could not verify the claim.

Mr Abbas said he knew which group was holding Mr Johnston but did not give any details.

In Gaza, a senior security official said the earlier reports of Mr Johnston's death were unfounded.

Mohammed al-Masri said that the available evidence suggested that he was alive and in secure conditions.

'Good news'

Mr Johnston's father, Graham, said he was delighted at the report.

"That's good news, that's really good news," he said.

"This is the news I've been waiting to hear and I don't think the Palestinian president would say this unless he was convinced it was true.

"But we still don't have proof of life. That's what I want desperately. It's been nearly six weeks now."

In a statement, the BBC also welcomed the report, adding that it wanted "firm evidence of Alan's well-being and his immediate release".

The signs are encouraging, but Gaza is a fractured, lawless place where truth and rumour are hard to distinguish, says the BBC's Keith Adams.

Protests against Mr Johnston's kidnap have been held in Britain, the Palestinian territories and other parts of the Middle East almost daily since his abduction.

On Wednesday, a leader of Mr Abbas' Fatah movement jailed in Israel, Marwan Barghouti, added his voice to calls for the reporter's release.

Eyewitness: Carnage in Gaza

---

IBRAHIM BARZAK, AP, THE JERUSALEM POST

May. 16, 2007

---

With battles raging outside my building and my windows blown out by bullets, I sit in a dark hallway outside my apartment with my wife and baby. It's dangerous inside and outside.

Today I have seen people shot before my eyes, I heard the screams of terrified women and children in a burning building, and I argued with gunmen who wanted to take over my home.

I have seen a lot in my years as a journalist in Gaza, but this is the worst it's been.

Much of the fighting is taking place right here in my neighborhood. I went outside a few times to report, just around the house. I saw a building on fire after Hamas gunmen attacked, and I heard the screams of people who could not get out because of the gun battles.

My building is across from a Palestinian government complex, and both sides are fighting for control of the area. They're taking over rooftops. My apartment is on the top floor of this five-story building. This morning some Fatah gunmen tried to force their way into my apartment so they could shoot from my windows, overlooking the Palestinian government compound. I had an argument with them, and they left.

There have been clashes between Hamas and Fatah before, but there are dangerous new elements this time. Now they are arresting or even shooting people for the way they look. If you have a beard, you might be arrested by Fatah security for looking Islamic. If you have a chain around your neck or on your arm, Hamas gunmen might shoot you because you look secular.

The random use of weapons and explosives is out of control. People who consider themselves the elite, the politicians, sit with the Egyptian mediators at night and then come out with statements about a truce, and in the morning we see the opposite has occurred. These people are not controlling anything.

I saw several people shot right in front of my home today. I'm preparing myself for even worse violence.

Right now there are three couples, neighbors, sitting here on the floor. It's dark because there is no electricity. We are chatting, trying to calm ourselves over the crazy clashes and the sounds of heavy gunfire and explosions, which have not let up since 2 a.m. in our neighborhood.

Each of us has a baby, and they're playing. My baby, Hikmet, is nine-months old. I'm astonished by his behavior. In the morning he was scared by the gunfire and he cried and called "mama," which is his first word. Then he fell asleep for three hours. Since he woke up, he's been calm despite all the shooting.

Tuesday was my 30th birthday. I was born on "al-Naqba" day, "the catastrophe," as Palestinians refer to the creation of Israel. I'm afraid a catastrophe is happening now.

 

Shin Bet uncovers plot to kill Olmert

---

yaakov katz and jpost.com staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

May. 17, 2007

---

A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who works for the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders has been arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Thursday.

Mazab Bashir, 25, from Deir el-Balah began working with Doctors Without Borders five years ago.

On April 19, he confessed during a Shin Bet interrogation that for months, he had been collecting intelligence on senior Israeli officials - including Olmert and a number of Knesset members.

Bashir met with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in September 2006, and said that the assassination was meant to avenge the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

Bashir also underwent arms training with the PFLP, and was picked to carry out the planned assassination.

He told the Shin Bet that he had collected information on the Internet to use to target MKs, but then realized that the MKs in question did not live in Jerusalem, the only Israeli city to which his permit granted him access.

According to the officials, after he realized that the security surrounding Olmert was impenetrable, Bashir decided in December 2006 to kill David Be'eri, head of the Elad organization, a group involved in purchasing Arab homes in Jerusalem's Old City.

That same month, he underwent combat training in the Gaza Strip in order to learn to kill without using weapons.

In January 2007, Bashir again entered Israel again on behalf of Doctors Without Borders, and began collecting information on Be'eri. He made additional trips to Jerusalem in February and March, and on April 18. He was arrested on April 19.

During his interrogation, Bashir said he had planned to return to Gaza to complete his combat training and learn, among other things, how to break necks. He said he intended to use his skills to kill Be'eri.

Elad has increased Be'eri's security following the threats to his life.

Bashir was indicted Thursday in the Jerusalem District Court.

Duncan Mclean, head of 'Doctors Without Borders' in the region, told Israel Radio, "I don't think embarrassed would be the right word. We are very sad for Bashir who has been working for us for almost six years. But we would like to make it very clear that we make a distinction between his professional work and what he does on his personal time in the sense that all our staff is hired for professional reasons and I don't think our organization can be held liable for every aspect of their life."

According to Mclean, all of the organization's staff members undergo an IDF security check

 

Gaza: Video aired of kidnapped reporter

---

AP and JPost.com staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

Jun. 2, 2007

---

Kidnapped British reporter Alan Johnston appeared Friday in a videotape posted on an Islamic militant Web site, saying his captors had treated him well, denouncing Israel and blasting British and US Mideast policy. It was the first sign of life from him since he was abducted almost three months ago.

There was no way to tell when the video was recorded, and it was not clear why his captors chose this time to post it. The British Broadcasting Corp. journalist, who has been covering the Palestinian territories for three years, has a reputation for objectivity, and it seemed likely he was reciting what he was told to say.

The videotape appeared on the Al-Ekhlaas Web site, frequently used by Islamic militants. It bore the logo of the Army of Islam, the shadowy Palestinian group that had been believed to be holding the 45-year-old reporter, and opened with Arabic chanting and verses from the Quran.
The video ended with Johnston about to outline conditions for his release, only to have the tape cut away to an unidentified voice in Arabic demanding freedom for Islamic prisoners, including a radical cleric with ties to Al-Qaida imprisoned in Britain. The demand was accompanied by English subtitles.

Johnston looked fit and calm during the three minutes he spoke.

"My captors have treated me very well, they've fed me well, there has been no violence towards me at all and I am in good health," he said in his opening remarks - then launched into a litany of complaints about Israel, and British and US Mideast policy.

"In three years here in the Palestinian territories I witnessed the huge suffering of the Palestinian people, and my message is that the suffering is continuing and it is unacceptable," he said, blaming Israel.

He denounced Britain and the US for causing suffering in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, and condemned Britain specifically for "occupying Muslim lands against the will of the people in those places."

Johnston skewered Britain for its role in Israel's creation on land the British once administered, calling Israel "the cause of all the suffering of the Palestinian people."

"We the British are completely to blame, along with the Americans, for the situation in Iraq," he added, while "the British are the main force in Aghanistan, causing all the trouble to all the simple Afghans who simply want to live."

Johnston started relaying a message to his family, but was cut off. Subtitles then appeared on the videotape, saying, "The BBC refused to take this message to his family."

Johnston was shown seated from the waist up, wearing what looked like a red sweatshirt, and speaking against a dark gray backdrop.

British officials were studying the video, the Foreign Office spokesman said, but "it is far too early to say whether this is a recent tape or to make any further comment."

"We are aware of the reports and we are investigating urgently," said Simon Wilson, the BBC bureau chief in Jerusalem.

The company planned to issue a statement later Friday, a BBC spokesman in London said.

Gaza-based analyst Shaker Shabat said the tape was a signal that Johnston's release was imminent.

"They are showing us evidence that Johnston is alive, and that is to seal the deal," Shabat said. "This is an indication that a deal is almost finished and Johnston will come out soon."

First footage of two Fox News journalists kidnapped in the summer of 2006 was released days before they were freed after two weeks in captivity. But they were held by a different group, and there was no guarantee that the same pattern would hold in Johnston's case.

Last week, an aide to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Islamic militant Hamas group said Johnston was alive and well, and could soon be set free.

Palestinian officials have said they knew where to find Johnston, but have held back on raiding the hideout at Britain's request, for fear of harming him.

The Palestinian government has instead tried to negotiate with the captors, while the British government has held talks with the Bin Laden associate it holds, Abu Qatada, in an effort to secure Johnston's release.

A Spanish judge once described Abu Qatada, a cleric of Palestinian-Jordanian descent, as Bin Laden's "spiritual ambassador in Europe."
On Friday, Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti demanded Johnston's immediate release.

"He has to be released immediately and unconditionally because his arrest and kidnapping is not only against freedom of press and human rights but also because it hurts the Palestinian people," Barghouti said.

Johnston has been missing far longer than any foreigner kidnapped in Gaza, and his kidnapping has led most news outlets to keep their foreign reporters out of the territory - a development the Palestinian government sees as hurting their people's cause.

Johnston's disappearance has touched off numerous protests and solidarity marches in London and the Palestinian territories.

On April 15th, a previously unknown group said they killed him, but Palestinian officials dismissed that claim.

 

It isn't the fact that it was a misguided strategy that didn't work that I'm criticising....I'm saying that it wasn't a justified and proportional response....as well as being counter-productive in the long term. It's that 'ten times harder' thing that has strengthened Hezbollah's and Hamas's hands, is the way I read it. And even more maddeningly, left loads of innocent people dead...not by the hand of religious fanatic terrorists...but by the hand of a democratic and stable state.........somehow I find that worse. Why? I don't know.

Not a perfect example, but what would you find more maddening and insulting...someone you love being killed by that Korean kid in Virginia, or if they were killed by a cop using indiscriminate firepower who considered them expendable just by dint of being in the same vicinity as the madman? To me, the latter would be worse, somehow.

Ehem. The war that began last summer may not be over just yet, Andrew. Most Israelis do not believe it to be so. This is probably just another of those innumerable lulls. So perhaps it is not the time to judge the war's efficacy.

Some things did happen as a result of Israel's bombing of Lebanon, however. That major something would NOT have happened with the so-called the "proportional" response. The international community -- UNIFIL -- did bring troops to southern Lebanon and, well, so it seems anyhow, they are monitoring the situation and controlling Hezbollah. Maybe Hezbollah has alliances with them or maybe Hezbollah is simply lying low. Maybe some are with the Al Qaeda group up in Tripoli who have "occupied" (ohmygawd, how absurd it gets!) the Palestinian "refugee camps" in that part of Lebanon which is sort of kinda no longer occupied by Syria. Except by proxy. Nor occupied by Israel. My head spins.

Talk about the viability of states, how long can Lebanon survive?

Out of the "loads of dead" -- around 1000 on the Lebanese side, as I recall -- not all were innocents, though Al Jazeera would like us to believe that. There are estimates of hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists among the dead, another plus for Israel and for Lebanon, which may explain the government's willingness to take on the siege at the Palestinian refugee camps. Hezbollah cannot be counted on to properly distinquish between "fighter" or civilian. Truth be told, were we ever really able to quantify the deaths -- which ones were caused by Israelis and which ones were actually innocent young children or innocent women, I believe the dead terrorists would outnumber them. But these figures are not ascertainable with any certainty. History shows us not to trust the Arab casaulty figures. Think Jenin "massacre."

While it cannot be described as a clear cut victory for Israel like the 6 Day War, they did take out plenty of the enemy's fire power during that month.

Shiny new airport? That airport was not destroyed. The runways were blown up strategically and not completely as I recall, in such a way that it would need to be repaved but not rebuilt from the ground up. Every target was carefully considered with Israel's efforts to avoid civilian casualties.

It is not the criticism of Israel that I find disturbing. I understand a democratic state is held to a higher standard than an amorphous loosely knit group of terrorists united soley by their obsessive hatred of Israel. But, it is the exclusion of almost any other country on planet earth (except for the USA) that I find so short-sighted and willfully prejudicial. It is the impossibly high standards demanded by Israel. Hey, here's a way to quantify this special disdain status of Israel.l Just to do a burning flag count any week of the year anywhere on the planet. When was the last time you witnessed a Chinese flag ablaze? How about a Belgian flag? The hottest sellers remain the Stars & Stripes and the Mogen David.

Innocent people die when terrorist base their operations in civilian areas, as you may have noticed. For Hezbollah, it's a win-win opportunity. Innocent people die in war. Same as it ever was.

Fighting a stateless, uniform-free, amorphous enemy is a special art. Perhaps the von Clausewitz's and Sun Tzus of the 21st century will write those how-to volumes and perhaps there will one day be a bloodless war. It's just not very likely.

Maybe the reason you find it more disturbing that a democratic state has caused those deaths is that you do not fully accept the premise of that country being under a life-threatening siege. Maybe your plan -- "proportional" tit-for-tat warfare -- has been tried over the half century. There have also been countless times where Israel has completely turned the other cheek. Times when they've targetted specific terrorists and dispatched them where they found them. A simple reading of their history will reveal the multitudes of strategies employed by both Likud and Labor parties.

Israelis understand it is in their best interest to find a strategy that works for their survival. Milliions of Arabs and Muslims have the opposite view. I'm sure you must be aware of the Golda Meir quote about forgiving Arabs for killing our children but not forgiving them for making Israelis kill theirs. Something to that effect. Killing takes its tolls on the victorious too, you know. If you read the two major newspapers in Israel -- Jerusalem Post on the right and Haaretz on the left -- you"ll find the same type of debates amongst Israelis. Thank your lucky stars you have not been assigned to task of solving Israel's problems and designing that kinder, gentler approach. Have a little humility and understand that others with your level of thoughtfulness, intelligence, sensitivity and human kindness have given it their very best in an earnest attempt to live harmoniously in Israel. I have a hunch that you might find yourself right at home during some of these discussion in the Knesset.

I've read and reread your final analogy and can't quite decipher the parallel to Israelis and Arabs. The cop -- is he there to apprehend a mass murderer but fires away and accidentally kills more students? Is that the premise?

Susan

Palestinians 'united' on Johnston

A senior Palestinian figure has said all factions are united in condemning the abduction of the BBC's Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston.

Saeb Erekat, adviser to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, said military action would be justified to free him.

His comments followed the release on Friday of a video of Mr Johnston, the first since his abduction on 12 March.

Mr Johnston's parents welcomed the video, in which he says he is in good health and is being treated well.

Graham and Margaret Johnston said the video, reportedly posted on the internet by the Army of Islam group, had given them "renewed hope".

"He looked well," Mr Johnston's father said. "Apparently he has been well cared for as he said, although I have to say it is very distressing to see him in such circumstances."

"I would just hope this maybe is the end game. We hope and pray it is."

Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a visit to South Africa, said the British government was doing everything it possibly could to secure his release.

A BBC statement read: "This is a highly distressing time for them and for his friends and his colleagues. We repeat our call for his immediate release."

Demands

On the video, Mr Johnston, seated and wearing a red sweatshirt, said his captors had treated him very well.

"They have fed me well, there has been no violence towards me at all and I'm in good health," he said.

He also called for an end to Western sanctions that have been imposed on the Palestinian government.

"Everyday there are Palestinians arrested, imprisoned for no reason. People are killed on a daily basis. The economic suffering is terrible, especially here in Gaza."

Mr Johnston also said the British government was working to occupy Muslim lands, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, against the will of the people there.

At the end of the tape, the Army of Islam demanded the release of Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-born Islamic cleric who is suspected of close links to al-Qaeda and is currently held by the UK government as a threat to national security.

'Military operation'

In an interview with BBC's Newsnight programme, Mr Erekat said he believed the video was a "proof of life", but also that the BBC journalist was speaking under duress.

 

ARMY OF ISLAM FACTS Small, Islamist armed group operating in Gaza Splinter group of the Popular Resistance Committees Seeks liberation of Palestine and an Islamic state Influenced by, but not affiliated with, al-Qaeda Led by Mumtaz Dugmush, also known as Abu Muhammad, a member of a powerful clan One of three groups allegedly holding captured Israeli soldier Cpl Gilad Shalit

"To have him say what he said today in a tape which was circulated the world over, I believe this harms the Palestinian cause," he said.

Mr Erekat said the Palestinian Authority did not know anything about the Army of Islam, or its alleged leaders, the Dugmush clan.

"These people are nothing more than gangsters," he added. "I don't think they are linked to anyone."

Nevertheless, he said Mr Abbas was exerting pressure on his cabinet and all the Palestinian factions to ensure Mr Johnston's release.

"Fatah, Hamas, all the factions, the president, the prime minister, in this particular case, they see eye to eye," Mr Erekat said.

"We are all unified as far as condemning this despicable and shameful act."

Mr Erekat said the current situation could not be tolerated and that the government simply had to act.

"We must really determine where his location is, and then move... even if it takes a military or a security operation," he said.

Mr Johnston, 45, was the only Western reporter permanently based in Gaza and his abduction has triggered appeals for his release from lawmakers and rights groups around the world.

More than 130,000 people have now signed an online petition calling for his release.

 

June 14, 2007

Palestine: The Prison

By James Lewis

So you have the bad luck to be born into an Arab family in Gaza. As a toddler you get to watch the Mickey Martyr Club on Hamas TV, to begin a lifelong process of indoctrination into the nobility of suffering, suicide, and killing the enemy. But suppose your parents get tired of the constant war drumming, which is bad for children and other living things. Today they're caught in a vicious crossfire between Fatah and Hamas. Can you move out of the war zone?

Not according to the Mufti of the Palestinian Authority. In an official fatwah from on high, this gentleman declares:

"No Permission to Emigrate from Palestine."

"There has been much talk in Palestine about emigration, especially among the young people, due to the difficult security and economic situation. This is being done in search of a better life abroad. Many are continuing to rush to the gates of the embassies and consulates of the Western nations with requests for visas in order to reside permanently in those countries.

"We hereby declare that emigration from the blessed lands is not permitted according to religious law. The people living in these areas must remain in their homes and must not leave them to conquerors. Those who abide by this ruling will perform an honorable deed and will support the Aksa Mosque." [emphasis added]

In other words, you're in a PA prison, cannon fodder for the jihad. Get used to it, kid.

For almost sixty years those who claim descent from Israeli Arab refugees who fled during the 1948 war have been fed, housed, and kept on multigenerational welfare dependency, for reasons that sound compassionate, but which are in fact cruel to the last degree.

Occasionally those who keep them there tell the truth in public, as the PA Mufti just did. Of all the refugee floods in the last fifty-nine years, no other group has been kept in prison for the sake of future revenge. Pakistan was founded by millions of refugees from British India in the same year of 1948. But their descendants are not called refugees: They are citizens of Pakistan. Germans fled Russia and Eastern Europe following World War II and were integrated into German, and nobody is a third generation refugee.

Somehow the Left and the Muslim world turn a blind eye to those who keep the Palestinians in prison, fired up with hatred against Israel, day in and out. Both the Left and the Islamic fascists want to keep the Palestinians' misery alive, as a casus belli, a constantly renewed reason for war against Israel. The UN social welfare bureaucracy of lives off the perpetuation of that deliberate misery. The world has determined they belong in prison.

What a sad state of affairs. If Islam were compassionate, the Mufti would let the children and grand-children of Arab refugees make their own decision about staying or leaving, like other people can. Then much of the hatred around the Israel-Palestinian issue would slowly yield to calm. Today, Pakistan and India may not love each other, but they are living side by side. That's all that's needed.

But will the Mufti let them go? Not a chance. Allah will know his own.