Not specifically a US story, but very important nevertheless

Free Alan

Alan Johnston's kidnapping is deeply disturbing for many reasons - his personal safety, the cause of fair reporting, and the rule of law in Gaza.


Today marks a month since the BBC journalist Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza. Alan was seized as he drove home from his office one afternoon. He'd already lived for three years in Gaza City - the only foreign correspondent to live permanently in that troubled town - and he was just a couple of weeks away from the end of his stint and the start of a new BBC job in London.

There has been a string of kidnappings of foreigners - mostly journalists - in Gaza in recent months and generally they've been resolved quickly. But this time it's proving more complicated.

Alan is a highly-respected, impeccably accurate journalist who has worked in tough places before. He wasn't foolhardy; he was just doing his job.

The BBC has had no direct contact with the kidnappers, although there is some comfort this morning from Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, who met the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last night and was told the Palestinians had evidence that Alan is safe and well. You don't have to look far to see the anguish this case has caused. Alan's father read out a heart-breaking letter this morning, calling for Alan's immediate release and saying to his son: "All our heartfelt warmest fondest love is sent to you from all your family and in the fervent hope that you will be released unharmed. Chin up, my son."

So who is behind it? It's difficult to be precise, given the lack of hard information but it appears to be one of the large and well-armed criminal gangs that operate with ever increasing impunity in Gaza. One gang, the Dogmush, has been implicated in previous kidnappings, as was discussed in this piece in Sunday's Observer. Clans like the Dogmush are not allied to one particular political faction, but are generally split among themselves and have allies in several of the armed groups which have political power in Gaza.

Unlike the kidnappings of journalists in Iraq, these abductions are not targeted at westerners for any apparent political or religious motive. Here, the gangs hope to use their hostages as leverage to secure money, guns or jobs from the Palestinian Authority.

This, of course, makes it more dangerous for foreign journalists to work in Gaza and therefore even less likely that the stories of the people of Gaza will be told. Most Palestinians understand this only too well: just look at the continued protests even today by Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza, holding up their placards saying: "Free Alan."

The heart of the problem is the continued lawlessness in Gaza. The Palestinians now have a new "national unity" government, that incorporates politicians from the rival Hamas and Fatah factions as well as some independent moderates, but it's still struggling to stop the endless rounds of kidnaps and murders as armed groups fight it out on the ground. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the past few months in this factional violence and families are now openly admitting their part in murders. Most analysts agree there are many elements involved in this complex crisis including the deep ideological dispute between Fatah and Hamas, their political rivalry for power, the international boycott on the Palestinian government, and Israel's continued closures of the crossing points into Gaza (see this report by the Israeli rights group Gisha or this one by the thinktank International Crisis Group).

But the fact that the new Palestinian government has so far been unable to bring Alan's swift and peaceful release suggests that it is a long, long way from restoring the rule of law in Gaza.

ALSO - PLEASE READ THIS LINK AND WATCH VIDEO: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6546059.stm

To sign a petition demanding his release: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?freealan