Alan Johnston– freed?

AP is reporting that BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been freed by Hamas from the clutches of the Gaza sub-clan/militia that has held him for nearly three months now, and that he is now in Hamas’s hands.
Great news, if confirmed. Even better news for him and his family once he gets home to Scotland.
I admire Johnston tremendously.
Of course, there is still the possibility of many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip… Let’s hope the Israelis don’t choose tonight to launch some big new attack on Hamas, eh?
And no word yet on whether any of the other literally thousands of people in the Middle East who have been unjustifiably deprived of their liberty will see a similar liberation any time soon.

19 thoughts on “Alan Johnston– freed?”

  2. Helena its good to here that and happy ending for him and his family specially his father.
    But what’s make me so sadden that those whomever captured him should not let them free they should be brought to the justices as they are not more than criminals had done a lot of damage to all Palestinians by this criminal and unacceptable behaviours for no reason at all caching an innocent man, humiliated him showing him on video with suffering of his family they went through.
    I will never rested until all those criminals brought to justices hope Hamas understand the human value.

  3. Let’s now pray for the release of Haleh Esfandiari, the 67 year old Iranian American scholar imprisoned in Iran.

  4. And let us also pray for the release of all the Hamas legislators, held by Israel.

  5. hey, let’s pray for the release of all prisoners who have not been fairly convicted of a substantial crime.
    (Obstruction of justice by republicans are a-okay. really.)

  6. This was the big news all over the BBC tonight, and apparently it is quite correct. At the time Alan was in the custody of Hamas, who negotiated his release, and was about to be transferred to Jerusalem for some unknown reason.

  10. God, the truthdig message boards feature some of the most irrational and witless flamers in the whole internet, on both sides of the political spectrum. I’m comparably repulsed by the article itself, which takes sickening delight over Israel’s purported brush with annihilation in the Yom Kippur war.
    But this is a major tangent that I wanted to get out of the way. Let’s focus on Alan Johnston instead. I give my congratulations to him and his family. Perhaps this rescue can evolve into a more productive relationship between all parties in the Middle East scene.

  12. I didn’t see any delight, sickening or otherwise, in the Chris Hedges article about the 1973 war.

  13. Inkan, the intention in 1973 was never to “annihilate” Israel, nor was the capability there. The reason for the 1973 war was Israel’s intransigence regarding Egyptian and Syrian territory it was very actively colonizing, and whose natural resources it was exploiting for its own benefit (both violations of international law – but when did Israel ever care about anything so “quaint” as that?). The hope was to gain back that territory and expel Israel from it – a perfectly legitimate goal, under the circumstances.

  14. Shirin, then why does Chris Hedges say “The country came perilously close to extinction during the October 1973 war” if Israel’s enemies in that war never intended to bring about that extinction as you assert?

  15. Salah,
    Bring the kidnappers to justice? What a joke. I guess whoever brought Johnston in a car to Hamas could have been detined right there. It is not like Johnston was put in an envelope and sent via mail. And Gaza is what? 16km square? And the clan is well know, and Hamas has weapons up the wazoo, but these crmiminal militias are one and the same, so there will never be justice.
    All they want is to generate good will towards Hamas by releasing a person they kidnapped in the first place.

  16. Doris,
    Hamas has weapons up the wazoo
    Doris, that why I see Israelis playground in Gaza every day, if they had what you think then your troops will be killed in a big numbers, do not be silly the only weapon they had stupidity and Kalashnikovs.
    BTW, what make me so angry and disgusting what reported yesterday this:
    تقضي بقبول عرض من ممتاز دغمش زعيم «جيش الاسلام» يتمثل بالحصول على فتوى دينية من شيخ محدد
    http://www.asharqalawsat.com/details.asp?section=3&article=426702&issue=10446
    “One of those who helped negotiate Johnston’s release from the Army of Islam group said a leading Muslim cleric had been brought in by mediators to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for his release.
    Those criminals and who support them by the Fatwa all criminals as this fare far from Islamic teaching and attitude.
    Dories where is your IDF why they not hunting down “ممتاز دغمش زعيم «جيش الاسلام»” and that Fatwa issuer he is Islamist Extremist definitely threat to you in Gaza its And Gaza is what? 16km square? isn’t?
    No one crying for criminals like these.

  17. Inkan, perhaps Chris Hedges said that because he believes it. Last I checked Chris Hedges, as good as he is, is not infallible.
    And by the way, you had to work awfully hard to find delight, or even mild satisfaction in any part of that piece. In fact, I don’t know where you pulled that “delight” from. I guess you felt compelled to say something negative, and if you can’t argue on the facts, invent something, right?

  18. I think that Donald is correct. There doesn’t seem to be any delight (Hedges is too dull and boring for that), just the usual exaggerated claims about the all-powerful “Lobby”, sleight of hand and factual errors.

  19. http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/jerusalem/2007/07/palestinian-ima.html
    McClatchy blogger reminds us of the perils remaining for journalists in Gaza. And if you happen to be a cameraman working for Hamas, then, according to an Israeli military official quoted in the NYT:
    “Al Aqsa cameramen should not be considered bona fide journalists. They are “Hamas operatives in every respect,” the official said. “They gather intelligence, document Hamas attacks against Israeli forces, join squads of armed men and are sometimes armed themselves.”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/world/middleeast/05cnd-mideast.html?ex=1341288000&en=bb1287155d95638c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
    It’ll be interesting to see if these calls for “an investigation” get anywhere….

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