New Zealand diplomat says no negotiations with kidnappers

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ JERUSALEM (AP) _ Palestinian officials on Thursday denounced kidnappers in Gaza who demand the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the U.S. in exchange for two Fox journalists.

¶ Such demands are turning U.S. public opinion against the Palestinians and hampering efforts
to win the freedom of thousands of Palestinians held by Israel, the officials said.

¶ The kidnappers demand the release of all Muslims held by U.S. by midnight Saturday, in exchange for Fox cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand and correspondent Steve Centanni, a U.S. citizen.

¶ Palestinian security officials have said they have no leads on the identity of the kidnapper, and speculation is rife. One theory holds that the kidnappers are Islamic militants, possibly with al-Qaida connections, who sneaked into Gaza from outside. Such suspicions were raised by the kidnappers' claims that they belong to a previously unknown group and by their demands, which are not linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

¶ Others believe the Fox journalists were seized by Palestinian militants as part of internal rivalries _ either within the ruling Hamas group or in an attempt by the opposition Fatah Party to embarrass the Hamas government.

¶ Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh suggested Thursday the kidnappers had no ties to any of the Palestinian militant groups. "The Palestinian factions are well known," he said after a meeting with Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught. "They work ...according to a Palestinian agenda. Their struggle is with occupation of Palestinian lands."

¶ Khaled Abu Hilal, a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, said the kidnapping is harming Palestinian interests. "We were shocked at their demands because we don't need a new door of hostility opened with the U.S.," he said.

¶ "We don't need this and we don't need to turn the American people against us."

¶ The U.S., along with other Western countries, refuses to deal with the Hamas government, because it considers Hamas a terrorist organization.

¶ New Zealand diplomat Peter Rider, meanwhile, said his country will not negotiate with the kidnappers. On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department had announced it would not consider the kidnappers' demands.

¶ "The New Zealand policy is exactly the same as that of the United States, we will not negotiate with terrorists or militant groups like this," said Rider, who was sent to Gaza to oversee efforts to release Wiig.

¶ He said New Zealand has no new information about the kidnappers, and has not made contact with them.

¶ On Wednesday, the kidnappers released footage of the hostages for the first time. Wearing track suits, Wiig and Centanni are seen sitting cross-legged on the floor of a dark apartment. They said they were being treated well. Wiig called for those working on his behalf to exert pressure on the Palestinian authorities.

¶ Wiig's wife said Thursday that seeing her husband in the video "was a source of great relief and comfort."

¶ Appealing to the kidnappers, she said: "I don't question that you, who are holding them, have suffered greatly as everyone in Gaza and the Palestinian territories is suffering, but these two men are not responsible for the injustices that you speak of."

¶ Centanni's brother, Ken, thanked the kidnappers for treating the journalists "with honor" and called for their release. "They have no power. They are not deal makers. They are not politicians and they have no authority," he said in a statement released by Fox News.

¶ Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat, who is close to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the kidnappers' demands undermine efforts to win the release of more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

¶ In late June, Hamas-allied militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier and said they want to exchange him for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Abbas has condemned the kidnapping, but has also called for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel has rejected the demands.

Abduction of two Fox journalists is the scariest kidnapping of foreigners in Gaza

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ It's the scariest kidnapping of foreigners ever in the Gaza Strip.

¶ After more than a week, there's been no word on the fate of two Fox News journalists Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, and their captors haven't come forward with demands. Authorities are not even sure who their captors are.

¶ "Ordinary" Gaza kidnappings _ more than two dozen foreigners were snatched in the past two years _ follow a clear pattern.

¶ Militants boast of their success within hours, followed by demands for jobs or freedom for jailed relatives, then brief negotiations and finally the release of those abducted, often the same day. Abductees routinely bear tales of being served tea and robust meals of rice and meat, passing the time watching TV or chatting with their captors.

¶ But the abduction of Wiig, 36, a cameraman from New Zealand, and Centanni, 60, a reporter from the U.S., has everyone puzzled. The men were abducted from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City on Aug. 15 and haven't been heard from since.

¶ Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh forcefully condemned the kidnappings.

¶ "Such acts harm all the Palestinians and harm the image of our struggle for freedom and contradict the values and morals and traditions of the Palestinians," Haniyeh told reporters Tuesday. "The government is exerting its maximum efforts to guarantee the safety and the freedom of the two guests in Palestine."

¶ In the absence of solid leads, speculation was rife.

¶ According to one theory, the kidnappers are Hamas militants, bitter because they were not given government jobs after Hamas won January parliamentary elections and took control of the Cabinet.

¶ Others speculate that militants from the rival Fatah Party carried out the abduction to embarrass Hamas, which has sought to establish its authority in Gaza.

¶ One senior police official, who has worked on freeing other captured foreigners, said the
kidnappers might be from the Palestinians' chaotic security forces, which are in open rivalry with each other and are not cooperating in the search for the journalists.

¶ The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

¶ Gaza is not Iraq, and no kidnapped foreigner has been harmed. But the unusual circumstances of the latest kidnapping have raised concern for the men's safety.

¶ "This is a different pattern from the normal hostage taking in Gaza," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Tuesday. "Normally people would have been released by now. These ones haven't and that's what's cause for concern."

¶ The kidnapping, stretching into its eighth day, is also a test for the Hamas-lead Palestinian Authority, which defeated Fatah on a platform promising to restore order to the chaotic streets of Gaza and the West Bank.

¶ "Everybody is under no illusions that this has potential to add to the government's credibility, and everybody will be disappointed if they can't (find the kidnapped men)," said Peter Rider, a New Zealand diplomat sent to Gaza to lead efforts to secure Wiig's release.

¶ Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, spokeswoman for the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, said the U.S. government had not received any information on the journalists.

¶ "We are working with the Palestinian services to try to find these individuals and ensure their release," she said, adding that Consul-General Jacob Walles raised the issue of the hostages in his meeting Monday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

¶ Anita McNaught, Wiig's wife, has been speaking to anyone who will listen to try to free her husband, and Centanni's brother spoke to the Arabic language station Al Jazeera to appeal for the men's release.

¶ Most foreign reporters left Gaza _ despite Israel's ongoing offensive there _ to cover Israel's battle with Hezbollah in the north.

¶ Now, it's unlikely many of them will return.

New Zealand envoy, American brother appeal for release of 2 kidnapped Fox News journalists

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ A New Zealand envoy and the brother of an American reporter made separate televised pleas Sunday urging militants to release two Fox News journalists kidnapped last week in the Gaza Strip.

¶ American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand were seized Aug. 14 from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City.

¶ The New Zealand envoy, Peter Ridder, spoke outside the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City shortly after the two men met. Ridder said Haniyeh gave him his personal commitment that returning the men safely was a top Palestinian government priority.

¶ "Just like the family, we are very concerned about the safety and security of the hostages, and we are working together to try to secure their safe return," Ridder said.

¶ Asked if he had a message for the abductors, the envoy replied, "Please release these men."

¶ Centanni's brother Ken also appealed for his brother's safety, in comments shown on Fox television then later aired on the Arab satellite TV station, Al-Jazeera.

¶ "Please contact our family," Ken Centanni urged. "Let us know he is alive and unharmed."

¶ Ken LaCorte, a senior Fox News official, also arrived in Gaza on Sunday to press efforts to release the journalists.

¶ More than two dozen foreigners have been abducted by Palestinian militants, usually in an attempt to settle personal scores, but almost all have been released within hours. This is the longest foreigners have been held.

¶ Security officials are especially concerned because all the militant groups have denied involvement and no demands have been issued.

¶ A statement from Haniyeh's office said the government firmly opposed kidnapping journalists and promised to secure the journalists' release.

Hundreds of angry Palestinians smash banks, burn tires demanding salaries after months without money

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Hundreds of Palestinian security officials stormed banks and burned tires on Saturday, demanding the banks return money deducted from a meager cash advance they received after months of going without wages.

¶ About 80 security officers, many of them armed with assault rifles, stormed up the stairs of the Arab Bank in Gaza City, parking themselves in front of the manager's office and refusing to leave until they spoke to him.

¶ Suffering the impact of crippling international sanctions, the ruling Hamas party has been unable to pay 165,000 government workers since taking office in March.

¶ Israel, the United States and other Western countries have said they will not lift the sanctions until the Islamic Hamas group recognizes Israel and renounces violence, something it has so far refused to do.

¶ Since March, employees have received only partial salaries in drips and drabs, forcing them to take bank loans and buy food on credit. On Saturday, the workers discovered the banks had deducted some of the advance to cover the loans.

¶ "I have five children," shouted Mohammad Masri, a policeman furious that he had received only 500 shekels ($114, euro90 ) of the 1,500 shekels ($343, euro268) he was supposed to receive. "I want to speak to the manager. If he doesn't come out, we won't leave the bank. We'll protest here."

¶ Tensions are especially high because the school year is set to start on September 2, but the teachers union has already threatened not to open the schools until they are paid for work they did in the last school year.

¶ Another policeman, who would only identify himself as Abu Moussa was shocked to find that instead of receiving 1,400 shekels ($320, euro250), he had been paid just 800 shekels ($180, euro140).

¶ "My grocer said I can't take any more on credit until I pay him," he wailed. "I have 10 children ... Who do I pay? The grocer? Or do I buy shoes for my children? How will they go to school?"

¶ There were similar scenes in southern Gaza on Friday after security officials smashed up computers and fired shots in the air outside the Arab Bank branch to demand their full advances. They said it was the first time the banks had deducted money from those meager amounts.

¶ "It's like they don't live among us," said one security officer, who identified himself as Abu Wasfi.

Palestinian journalists in Gaza protest kidnapping of Fox News cameraman, correspondent

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Palestinian journalists in Gaza protested on Saturday against the kidnapping of a Fox News correspondent and cameraman, as concern about the men's safety grew.

¶ Cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, were snatched Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City.

¶ More than two dozen foreigners have been abducted by Palestinian militants, usually in an attempt to settle personal scores, but almost all have been released within hours. This is the longest foreigners have been held. Security officials are especially concerned because all the militant groups have denied involvement and no demands have been put forth.

¶ About 30 members of the Palestinian Journalists' Union gathered outside the parliamentary building in Gaza, holding up signs demanding the men be freed. Other signs called for security in Gaza, where armed men wander the streets freely.

¶ Jennifer Griffen, chief Fox News correspondent for the Middle East, called the kidnapping a "test for the Palestinian people."

¶ "We don't care who kidnapped them, we want them returned unharmed. This is a very serious case for the Palestinians, for the Palestinian Authority," Griffen said.

¶ Khaled Batch, a leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group, said kidnapping members of the media "silenced the voice of freedom and justice."

¶ "We...have experienced oppression and denial. We don't want to practice this pain and suffering on others, on other wives and people," Batch said.

Wife of Fox News cameraman kidnapped in Gaza makes tearful plea for his release

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ The wife of a kidnapped Fox News cameraman made a tearful plea Friday for information about the whereabouts of her husband and a fellow Fox journalist.

¶ Cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and American reporter Steve Centanni, 60, were taken Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters.

¶ "If somebody knows any information, can you please tell us because I want him home so much," Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, a freelance journalist, said in her televised appeal Friday.

¶ "He and his colleague, Steve, don't deserve this. They are good men, they are good men and they should be allowed to come home. Please let him come home. Please," McNaught said.

¶ In the past two years, kidnappers have seized at least 26 foreigners, including nine members of the media, either to protest Israeli or American policies, use them as leverage with the Palestinian Authority for jobs and money or to win the release of family members from prison.
Most of those kidnapped were released after a few hours.

¶ Palestinian security officials said they were concerned for the Fox journalists because no other foreigners have been held this long and all major militant groups in Gaza have denied involvement.

¶ "This is the first time kidnappers haven't identified themselves or their demands," said Mustafa Wafi, a senior Palestinian security official. "Usually kidnappers announce who they are, sometimes as soon as they kidnap."

¶ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Thursday with top security officials to discuss the kidnapping, one official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. He declined to say whether the security services knew where the men were being held.

Abbas says Palestinian militants agree to halt violence in hopes of ending crackdown on Gaza

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that militant groups promised to suspend attacks on Israel in hopes of ending a nearly 2-month-long Israeli crackdown in the Gaza Strip.

¶ The militants denied there was a formal agreement with Abbas, but left the door open to a possible halt in attacks. Only minor violence was reported Thursday, and there appears to have been a drop in rocket attacks on Israel in recent days.

¶ Abbas said Thursday that the groups reached their accord late Wednesday during renewed talks on forming a unity government including his Fatah Party and the rival Hamas group, which controls the Cabinet. The talks broke down after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier in late June and Israel responded with a widescale offensive in Gaza.

¶ The militants holding the soldier have demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners, a condition Israel rejects.

¶ Palestinian hospital officials say 220 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, most of them gunmen. Palestinian officials fear that Israel, after battling Hezbollah guerrillas to a stalemate in Lebanon, now will focus on Gaza.

¶ Early Friday, an Israeli airstrike hit a metal workshop in Gaza City, wounding two people, one militant and one bystander, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli army said the strike hit a weapons manufacturing facility where rockets were made.

¶ In an effort to head off more attacks, Abbas announced the unilateral cessation of violence.

¶ "Yesterday all factions met and agreed to a period of calm, and agreed to stop all actions which by their nature give an excuse for others to attack us," Abbas said at a graduation ceremony for presidential bodyguards.

¶ Abbas, a moderate who favors peace talks with Israel, has been locked in a power struggle with Hamas since the Islamic militant group defeated Fatah in January parliamentary elections.

¶ Hamas has rejected Israel's demands to renounce violence or recognize the Jewish state. Israel has cut ties with the government and refused to transfer tax money it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, making it impossible for the Hamas government to pay full salaries to its employees.

¶ Abbas hopes a unity government would enable him to restart negotiations with Israel.

¶ Ibrahim Abu Naja, who heads the umbrella committee coordinating the talks among Palestinian factions, said a deal to renew a cease-fire had been reached. But he said the truce would depend on Israel.

¶ "All the factions asserted the need for quiet," he said. "They have agreed not to attack Israel, but we want a word from the Israelis that they will agree as well ... We are waiting for goodwill gestures from the Israelis."

¶ Israeli government spokesman David Baker said Israel would respond positively to an end to the rocket attacks, which Palestinian militants have launched almost daily for months.

¶ "What counts are deeds and not rhetoric," Baker said. "If Israel were to see concrete actions by the Palestinians to halt terror against Israel, then that would certainly be quite a change. ... There will be no need for Israeli action if the Palestinians once and for all take these kinds of actions. In their absence, Israel will continue to defend itself."

¶ Militants from most factions, including Hamas, denied they had agreed to a unilateral cease-fire, and it remained unclear whether Abbas would be able to enforce it.

¶ Hamas' militant wing issued a statement shortly after his speech claiming it had fired a rocket at an Israeli border crossing. The Israeli army confirmed the attack, saying there were no injuries.

¶ Still, the group left the door open to a deal. "The Israelis must calm down, not us," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman.

¶ A senior Hamas official said the group's political leaders decided last week to halt rocket attacks on Israel but was waiting for an Israeli gesture in return.

¶ There has been a sharp drop in rocket fire this month. On its Web site, Hamas' militant wing said it hasn't fired a rocket into Israel since Aug. 7.

¶ Israel's offensive against Hamas was accompanied by the arrests of Hamas Cabinet ministers and lawmakers. An Israeli military court on Thursday extended the detention of the Palestinian parliament speaker, Abdel Aziz Duaik.

¶ Duaik, who was hospitalized with chest pains after his arrest this month, shouted complaints on his way to court.

¶ "I am the elected representative of the people," he said. "My rightful place is among the people." Duaik, whose hands and feet were cuffed, said he has been held in solitary confinement.

Five churches attacked in Palestinian areas following pope's comments

By ALI DARAGHMEH=
Associated Press Writer=

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) _ Assailants provoked by Pope Benedict XVI's remarks about Islam hurled firebombs and opened fire at five churches in the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, causing no injuries, but sparking fears of a rift between Palestinian Muslims and Christians.

Despite the charged atmosphere, hundreds of Christians and a few Muslims lifted beer mugs at the 2nd annual West Bank "Octoberfest" beer festival, in a modest display of cultural pluralism.

Christians make up a dwindling minority of several tens of thousands among the more than 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. Relations are generally good, and the Palestinian Authority has made considerable efforts to ensure their political representation.

The attacks on four of the 10 churches in the West Bank town of Nablus, and on the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City unsettled that peaceful coexistence.

The assaults began with firebombings of Nablus' Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches, which left trails of black scorch marks in their wake. At least five firebombs were hurled at the Anglican church, whose door was later set ablaze in a separate attack. Smoke billowed from the church as firefighters put out the flames

In a phone call to The Associated Press, a group calling itself the "Lions of Monotheism" claimed responsibility, saying the attacks were meant to protest the pope's remarks about Islam.

Hours later, four masked gunmen doused the main doors of Nablus' Roman and Greek Catholic churches with lighter fluid, then set them ablaze. They also opened fire on the buildings, pocking their outer walls with bulletholes.

In Gaza City, militants opened fire from a car at a Greek Orthodox church, hitting the facade. A policeman at the scene said he saw a car escape with armed men inside. Explosive devices were set off at the same Gaza church on Friday, causing minor damage.

There were no claims of responsibility for the last three attacks. Said Siyam, the interior minister from the ruling Islamic Hamas Party, ordered extra protection for churches across the West Bank and Gaza.

"The atmosphere is charged already, and the wise should not accept such acts," said Father Yousef Saada, a Greek Catholic priest in Nablus.

Benedict set off protests across the Islamic world earlier this week by citing an obscure medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman." The pope, spiritual leader of more than 1 billion Roman Catholics, did not explicitly agree with or repudiate the text.

On Saturday, the Vatican said the pontiff "sincerely regrets" having offended Muslims, but stopped short of issuing the apology the Islamic world has demanded.

About 2,000 Palestinians protesters accused the pope on Friday of leading a new Crusade against the Muslim world. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said the pope offended Muslims everywhere.

George Awad, a cleric at the Greek Orthodox church in Nablus, said he and other Christians have apologized for the pope's remarks, but urged Muslims to show restraint.

"There is no reason to burn our churches," he said on Saturday.

In Nablus, merchant Khaled Ramadan, 31, wearing traditional Islamic garb, said the pope's comments were unforgivable, but that Palestinians must not fight among themselves.

"We are one people and violent reactions like these should not happen here," he said.

In the West Bank town of Taibeh, neither the pope's remarks nor the Islamic Hamas government ruffled the second annual Octoberfest beer festival, held early this year so as not to fall during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week.

Sipping his beer, Essi Thalji, a 51-year-old construction worker from the predominantly Christian village, shrugged off the uproar over the pope's comments.

"I don't understand why they got so upset because he quoted books from 400 years ago," Thalji said.

Tables were set up outdoors near the cemetery in Taibeh, which is home to the Taibeh brewery. Arab and Western pop music played in the background as waiters and waitresses waited on locals and foreigners both.

"No one from Hamas says anything" about the festival, despite the Islamic prohibition against liquor, said Omar Dhadl, a 36-year-old Christian fast food vendor.

Rasha Khoury, a 26-year-old Taibeh resident speculated that was because Hamas, which plans to soon share power with the secular Fatah Party, doesn't "have a lot of authority."

Yusri Shalabi, a Muslim restaurant owner in Taibeh who lived in the U.S. for years, was serving food at the festival.

"Why can't we all live here together, Jews, Muslims and Christians, like in the U.S.?" Shalabi asked. "I drink beer with my Christian friends. We all come here to this festival together from different religions, but the ones separating us are the political leaders."

AP reporters Sarah El Deeb in Ramallah, West Bank, Delphine Matthieussent in Taibeh, West Bank, and Diaa Hadid in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

14-year old Palestinian boy killed in Hamas-Fatah clashes

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Palestinian gunmen from the rival Hamas and Fatah militias clashed Wednesday in southern Gaza, killing a 14-year old boy in the crossfire and injuring four others, security and hospital officials said.

¶ The clashes began in the southern city of Khan Younis during the funeral of a Palestinian militant killed Tuesday night by Israeli forces.

¶ A security official from the area, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said Fatah-backed gunmen at the funeral were incensed when a top Hamas militant blamed for infighting between the rival groups arrived.

¶ The young boy suffered a gunshot wound in the stomach, hospital officials said. Four others were injured, including the top Hamas gunman, the security official said.

¶ Deadly gunfights between Hamas and Fatah militias erupted soon after the new Hamas-led government took office in March, most of them caused by rivalries over control of the security forces.

Wife of Fox journalist kidnapped in Gaza pleads for his release

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ The wife of a kidnapped Fox News cameraman made a public plea Wednesday to his kidnappers to release him and his fellow journalist. Palestinian officials said they have no firm leads on where the two men are being held.

¶ The cameraman, Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and American reporter Steve Centanni, 60,
were taken Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters. Major militant groups in Gaza have denied involvement and the kidnappers have yet to make any demands.

¶ Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, appealed to the kidnappers to free her husband and Centanni.

¶ "The bottom line is, there is no good reason for these two men to be held," said McNaught, a freelance television journalist. "They are friends of the Palestinians. They are here telling the Palestinian story for weeks now, when the rest of the world's media has not been here."

¶ Directing her words to her husband in the on-camera interview and choking back tears, McNaught said: "It's going to be all right. You are going to come home to me."

¶ Many foreigners have been abducted in Gaza in recent years, most by gunmen with ties to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement.

¶ The ruling Hamas movement has not played a prominent role in past kidnappings of foreigners. In June, however, Hamas-allied militants abducted an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid that triggered a major Israeli offensive in the coastal strip.

¶ In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Julie Reside said the U.S. is working with Palestinian officials and called for the journalists to be released immediately.

¶ "The U.S. government strongly condemns the kidnapping of these individuals," she said.00

¶ Jan Henderson, New Zealand's ambassador to Israel and Turkey, met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza to discuss the incident, and Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat said Abbas reassured Henderson the ordeal would soon be over.

¶ "He is personally leading this effort, and every effort is being exerted to ensure their release," Erekat said.

¶ Julie Reside, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said: "The U.S. government strongly condemns the kidnapping of these individuals and calls for their immediate release."

¶ The U.S. consulate was also in close communication with Palestinian security services, and "is doing everything possible to bring about their safe recovery," she said.

¶ A Palestinian security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said efforts to locate the kidnappers and journalists were concentrated on the Gaza City area.

¶ Palestinian officials said it is unusual for kidnappers not to make any demands for two days. That has made it difficult to trace the abductors, or understand why they kidnapped the journalists, they said.

¶ McNaught said earlier that she was told by Palestinian officials that her husband's captors acted on their own, without support from militant groups.

¶ McNaught said the hardest part of waiting has been the silence on the part of the kidnappers: "It's difficult dealing with no information on how he is," she said.

¶ New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has expressed her country's deep concern for Wiig's safety.

Wife of kidnapped Fox journalist says she's been told no political grounds behind the abductions

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ The wife of a kidnapped Fox News cameraman said Wednesday she's been told by Palestinian officials her husband's captors acted on their own, without support from militant groups.

¶ The cameraman, Olaf Wiig, 36, a New Zealander, and Fox reporter Steve Centanni, 60, a U.S. citizen, were abducted Monday from their TV van. The abduction took place near the Palestinian security services headquarters. Major militant groups in Gaza have denied involvement and there was no word of demands being made.

¶ Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, on Wednesday appealed to the kidnappers to free her husband
and Centanni.

¶ "The bottom line is, there is no good reason for these two men to be held," said McNaught, a BBC World presenter. "They are friends of the Palestinians. They are here telling the Palestinian story for weeks now, when the rest of the worlds media has not been here."

¶ McNaught said she has been told by Palestinian officials that the kidnappers appear to be rogue gunmen without ties to any of the political groups in Gaza. "What they (the authorities) have said to us is there is no political organization, (that) no official political organization backs this kidnapping," McNaught said.

¶ Scores of foreigners have been abducted in Gaza in recent years, most by gunmen with ties to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

¶ The ruling Hamas movement has not played a prominent role in kidnappings of foreigners. However, in June, Hamas-allied militants abducted an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid, triggering a major Israeli offensive in the coastal strip.

¶ Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas have been involved in efforts to free the
kidnappers.

¶ Jan Henderson, the New Zealand ambassador to Israel and Turkey, said Wednesday that Palestinian leaders have assured her and other diplomats they are doing everything they can to win the release of the hostages.

¶ Henderson said she had made contact with diplomatic colleagues and senior Palestinian Authority figures, including in Abbas' office, immediately after arriving in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

¶ "They assured me they are doing all they can, they take this matter extremely seriously, and we are looking for a very quick and peaceful resolution to this particular kidnapping," Henderson said.

¶ "The Palestinian Authority has offered every cooperation. They are very upset. They have condemned the kidnapping, and they assured me they are doing everything they can for a quick and speedy resolution," she said.

¶ Prime Minister Helen Clark has expressed New Zealand's deep concern for Wiig's safety.

Palestinian women naming their newborns after Hezbollah and its leader

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Nahed Ghurani worried that naming his new son Hezbollah might cause the boy problems when he grows up. But young Hezbollah Ghurani won't be the only Palestinian in this predicament.

¶ In a spasm of celebration for Hezbollah's monthlong battle against Israel, many parents in Gaza City have named their children after the Islamic militant group and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

¶ In Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, six Palestinian women have named their babies Hassan, Nasrallah, or Hassan Nasrallah, according to maternity records from when fighting began July 12
to when a cease-fire took effect Monday.

¶ About half a dozen more named their babies Hezbollah, Beirut, or Promise _ after the name of the military campaign Hezbollah staged against Israel, "The True Promise," records showed.

¶ In Gaza, as in many parts of the Arab and Muslim world, Nasrallah has seen his popularity rise dramatically by holding his own against the region's most powerful army.

¶ Ghurani, the new father and a wealthy Palestinian fruit importer, said his wife gave birth before hostilities began, but they didn't name their child until the fighting was at full pitch.

¶ "My wife wanted to call the baby Nasrallah, but I wanted Hezbollah _ to commemorate the entire resistance," he said smiling.

¶ "My friends said with this name he won't be able to work, or travel abroad. I have business in Israel as well _ but you know, there is a nationalist spirit in me," he said.

¶ Ghurani said he also tried to change his 6-year-old son's name from Islam to Nasrallah, but "couldn't find the right papers."

¶ "The next son _ we'll call him Ahmadinejad," Ghurani said, in honor of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for the complete annihilation of Israel.

¶ Nasrallah means "Victory of God" in Arabic, and some Palestinian women think that's exactly what happened in the recent war.

¶ "It's a hope for victory that encourages women to do this," maternity ward nurse Fiza Zaanin said.

¶ "Just like when women named their children Saddam when he promised to destroy Israel," she explained, referring to ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein who launched missiles at Israel during the first Gulf War.

¶ Her own neighbor named her son Hassan Nasrallah, she said.

¶ But local traditions, Zaanin said, prevented more women from naming their babies after the Hezbollah leader.

¶ "Normally people wait for a great leader to die. When Sheikh Ahmed Yassin died, almost all the women giving birth that day called their sons Ahmed, Yassin or Sheik Ahmed, to immortalize the Hamas leader," she said.

Two foreign reporters kidnapped by gunmen in Gaza Cit

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Masked Palestinian gunmen ambushed a car carrying a Fox News crew in Gaza City on Monday and kidnapped two journalists, including one American, witnesses and Fox said.

¶ "We can confirm that two of our people were taken against their will in Gaza," Fox News said in a statement.

¶ A Fox employee in Gaza, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to release information about the incident, said American reporter Steve Centanni and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig were kidnapped.

¶ The men, along with a bodyguard, were parked near the headquarters of the Palestinian security services when two trucks filled with masked gunmen pulled up and boxed them in, the Fox employee said. The gunmen took the two men out of their sports utility vehicle, which was marked "TV," and drove away, he said.

¶ Major militant groups in Gaza denied any connection to the incident; there was no immediate word of any demands made.

¶ However, Wiig's wife Anita McNaught said Fox representatives had told her negotiations for their release were already under way.

¶ "There will be people working through the Palestinian Authority, through the authorities in Gaza ... but Fox News are vastly experienced on the ground there, so they have all the contacts they need," said McNaught, who is a BBC World television presenter.

¶ McNaught, who is currently in Syria, told New Zealand's National Radio she intends to come to the area soon to help secure the release of the two men.

¶ Also, New Zealand was sending a diplomatic team to the area, said Rosie Patterson, head of consular services at New Zealand's Foreign Ministry. New Zealand has no representation in the immediate area, and currently is working through British diplomats, she said.

¶ The government was "very concerned" for the safety of Wiig, Prime Minister Helen Clark said in brief comments in New Zealand.

¶ Security officials put police across Gaza on alert and set up roadblocks to find the gunmen and free the reporters, said Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal.

¶ The Committee to Protect Journalists called for the men to be freed.

¶ "We are gravely concerned about our colleagues' safety and call for their immediate and unconditional release," said executive director Joel Simon. "These are well established journalists who are not participants in the conflict. They should be treated accordingly and freed."

¶ Several foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza in recent months with their abductors demanding jobs from the Palestinian Authority or the release of people being held in Palestinian jails. All those kidnapped have been released within hours without harm.

Israel orders Gaza-Egypt border crossing closed just hours after opening it

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Israel ordered the Gaza-Egypt border crossing closed just hours after it was partially opened for the first time in weeks, European Union and Palestinian officials said Thursday.

¶ The crossing was to have been opened for two days to allow hundreds of people stuck in Gaza to leave after a weeks-long closure imposed during Israel's military offensive in the coastal strip

¶ Israel informed European monitors the crossing had to shut because there was a high security alert, officials said.

¶ "We received a warning from the (Israeli army) that for security reasons the terminal will be closed. They were saying there were suicide bombers or something like that," said Maria Telleria, a spokeswoman for the European border monitoring mission.

¶ Military officials said Israel decided to close the border crossing due to specific threats.

¶ The crossing had been opened to allow students, business people and some people requiring medical treatment to travel to Egypt, Telleria said.

¶ About 500 sick people, many of them cancer patients, were given permission to cross the border for treatment, said Dr. Omar Shehada, a Palestinian Authority official responsible for overseas medical treatment.

¶ People would not be allowed to cross from Egypt into Gaza.

¶ A senior official on the Palestinian side of the border said no more than 80 people needing medical treatment managed to cross into Egypt. More than 4,000 people were waiting to cross when the border was closed, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

¶ The border was closed after Hamas-allied militants captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, during a cross-border raid on June 25. The seizure triggered an Israeli offensive in Gaza aimed at freeing him and stopping rocket attacks on Israeli border towns.

¶ Israel had feared the militants would try to smuggle Shalit out of Gaza if the border was open. It was only opened briefly once since the raid to allow Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return to Gaza.

¶ "Since the border closed on June 25, we've been trying to open it," said Telleria. "This is the longest period the border has been closed since the Europeans began" monitoring, she said.

¶ The Palestinians, backed by EU monitors, took control of the Gaza-Egypt border after Israel withdrew from the coastal strip last summer.

¶ By midday Thursday, hundreds of Palestinians were waiting on the Egyptian side near the crossing, apparently hoping their presence would pressure authorities to let them enter the coastal strip.

¶ "I came to this crossing more than 10 times _ whenever I heard rumors that it would open," said Abdullah Abdel Rahman Belbasi, a 30-year-old Palestinian worker who entered Egypt a month ago for surgery to his arm after being shot.

¶ In other developments Thursday, doctors said a 5-year-old Palestinian girl initially believed to have been killed by a military strike by Israel on Wednesday apparently died after sustaining head injuries during a fall from a swing. The girl suffered a fractured skull and there were no signs of shrapnel, said Kazim Abu Libda, a doctor at Gaza's Shifa hospital.

¶ Israeli planes dropped leaflets over Gaza Thursday portraying Hamas and Hezbollah leaders celebrating in front of the ruins of Gaza City and Beirut. Israel is fighting on two fronts, battling Palestinian militants in Gaza and Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon.

¶ In the West Bank, Israeli troops surrounded a five-story building in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn, exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen inside, Palestinian security officials said.

¶ After a standoff of several hours, six militants surrendered to the troops. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The army had no comment on the raid.

Palestinian militants decline Red Cross request to visit to captured Israeli soldier

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Palestinian militants holding a kidnapped Israeli soldier refused to allow Red Cross officials to visit him, Hamas said Saturday.

¶ The Red Cross requested last week to visit Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas-linked militants more than a month ago in a cross-border raid. A Red Cross official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the request was made in a meeting with Palestinian factions in Gaza. He said the request was denied without explanation.

¶ On Saturday, Hamas said such a visit was "not appropriate at a time when more than 10,000 Palestinian families are denied to visit their prisoners."

¶ The army could not immediately provide details of its policy on prisoner visits, but said in principle visits were allowed, subject to unspecified security considerations.

¶ Israeli Cabinet minister Ophir Pines said there could be no comparison between Hamas holding Shalit in a secret hideout without access to humanitarian organizations and Israel's custody of Palestinians accused of terrorist activity.

¶ "We allow people to see Palestinian prisoners," he told The Associated Press. "We allow in many cases their families to visit, we hold them in prisons, people know where they are and we allow access by international organizations."

¶ Hamas has said it would release Shalit if Israel released some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, particularly women and children. The deputy head of Hamas' political bureau in Syria told The Associated Press Saturday that such a deal was not imminent.

¶ "The exchange of prisoners is not coming soon," said the senior Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk. "So far there is nothing that could be a framework to get out of the crisis."

¶ Hamas militants captured Shalit, 19, in a raid into Israel from Gaza on June 25. Israel responded by launching military incursions into the coastal strip, kidnapping dozens of Hamas legislators and so far killing 175 Palestinians.