The Hamas-led Palestinian government said that an achievement has be
made in the case of the two abducted journalists in Gaza. Palestinian
journalists in the Gaza Strip held massive protests against the
abduction of the two reporters and demanded their release.
Fox news reporter and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, were abducted last Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City.
Palestinian Interior Minister, Sa'id Siyam, issued a statement saying that “things are moving in a positive direction”, but did not reveal and further details.
On Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyya, called for the immediate and safe release of the two reporters and expressed hopes that his governments' efforts will be successful.
The statements of Haniyya came during a meeting with Anita McNought, the wife of Wig.
Haniyya said that he instructed all security devices to conduct utmost efforts in order to locate the abducted reporters and added that all Palestinian factions, and armed resistance groups, have only one agenda which is resisting the Israeli occupation.
Haniyya also said that Palestinian armed groups never demanded anything that is not related to the Israeli occupation. His statement refers to the group's demand for the release of “all Muslim detainees in American Prisons”.
A group calling itself “Holy Jihad brigades” declared on Thursday its responsibility for the abduction of the two reporters and demanded the United States to release “all Muslim detainees within 72 hours”.
Washington rejected the call and said that “the United States does not negotiate with terrorists”.
Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinian reporters, members of the Palestinian Journalists' Union, protested outside of the Gaza parliamentary building holding signs demanding the release of the abducted reporters.
The journalists were holding up signs demanding the safe release of the two abducted reporters, and called for security in the Gaza Strip.
Fox News reported that Jennifer Griffen, chief FOX News correspondent for the Middle East, called the kidnapping a "test for the Palestinian people."
Griffen said that this issue is a “test for the Palestinians and Palestinian Authority”.
