BBC Reporter Freed

[CHUQ]

Yesterday the BBC reporter was freed from his captors. Hamas is trying to play nice now? thoughts?


GAZA (Reuters) - Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in Gaza, was freed early on Wednesday after a late-night deal between the ruling Hamas Islamists and the al Qaeda-inspired clan group that kidnapped him in March.

"It is just the most fantastic thing to be free. It was an appalling experience," he told the British public broadcaster from the home of local Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his 114-day ordeal at the hands of the shadowy Army of Islam.


http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSMAC37439320070704?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true

[CHUQ]

Come on guys! Does this sound a bit fishy to anyone but me. I mean, he was held by a Hamas related group, but yet he thanks Abbas for some reason. Could this be propaganda at work?


BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to thank him for helping to free him from 114 days in captivity in Gaza.

He met Mr Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a day after he was freed in a deal between his kidnappers, the Army of Islam, and the Hamas movement.

Mr Abbas has led an emergency cabinet since Hamas ousted his Fatah movement in Gaza last month.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6274024.stm

[Tumbleweed]

Hamas has no intentions of playing nice, though they would like everyone to believe they are.

Not much has changed except they have one less bargaining chip.

[CHUQ]

OK, but why would he thank Abbas, when it was Haqmas that secured his release? I find that a bit strange.

[CHUQ]

The truth salips down the memory hole----

One of the leaders of demonstrations in Gaza calling for the release of the BBC reporter Alan Johnston was a Palestinian news cameraman, Imad Ghanem. On 5 July, he was shot by Israeli soldiers as he filmed them invading Gaza. A Reuters video shows bullets hitting his body as he lay on the ground. An ambulance trying to reach him was also attacked. The Israelis described him as a "legitimate target." The International Federation of Journalists called the shooting "a vicious and brutal example of deliberate targeting of a journalist." At the age of 21, he has had both legs amputated.


Source (http://www.antiwar.com/pilger/?articleid=11349)