CNN correspondent Paula Hancocks, reporting from Jerusalem, earlier today for the Situation Room:
HANCOCKS: Palestinian security sources say, an unnamed militant group has warned all foreigners to leave Gaza, threatening abductions.
It's not much of a lead, I admit, but with the Christian Science Monitor, which knows a thing or two about kidnapped journalists, reporting that the interior ministry of the Palestinian Authority says its leads in the case are nearly exhausted, even a long-shot lead such as this needs investigating (and I don't mean the PA...how about the FBI?).
In the meantime, if you're a blogger, post something on Steve and Olaf and trackback to Michelle. Let's keep them in our thoughts and prayers and their names reverberating throughout the blogosphere.
Here's the transcript of Hancocks' report on Centanni and Wiig.
BLITZER: Right now, still more questions than answers in the kidnapping of two FOX News journalists in Gaza. There's growing concern about their safety.
CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest now from Jerusalem -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the longer nothing is heard about the fate of two FOX journalists kidnapped in Gaza, the more concern about their safety is mounting -- still no claim of responsibility and still no demands.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): It's the ninth day since two FOX journalists were kidnapped in Gaza -- still no word on who took them and why.
Thirty-six-year-old cameraman Olaf Wiig and 60-year-old American reporter Steve Centanni were abducted by masked men in the center of Gaza City. Both men are well-respected, experienced journalists who have worked for a number of broadcasters, including CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other brother, Steve Centanni, was kidnapped on August 14, last Monday.
HANCOCKS: Families of both have made televised appeals for their release. The brother of Centanni made a statement on Arab network Al- Jazeera.
The wife of cameraman Wiig met protesting mothers of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
ANITA MCNAUGHT, WIFE OF KIDNAPPED JOURNALIST OLAF WIIG: In Gaza today, it's like a prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING ARABIC)
MCNAUGHT: And now my husband, his colleague Steve, and I are all in prison with you.
HANCOCKS: But, still, no contact has been made by the kidnappers.
The press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders says it's becoming increasingly concerned that no group has claimed responsibility for their abduction, despite the many appeals for their release.
Palestinian journalists took to the streets of Gaza over the weekend, saying, coverage of the Palestinian cause would be severely damaged if abductions continued.
A New Zealand diplomat, Peter Rider, met with the Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh gave a personal commitment to do all he could to secure the journalists' release.
PETER RIDER, NEW ZEALAND DIPLOMAT: Gaza is a very confused place. That's why it's so difficult to get leads. It's not an ordinary city, where ordinary policing works in a normal way. It's much more going to be somebody coming to tell somebody something, because they think that's the right thing to do. So, I would ask them to come out and tell us if they do know anything.
HANCOCKS: Palestinian security sources say, an unnamed militant group has warned all foreigners to leave Gaza, threatening abductions.
At least 26 foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza over the past two years, nine of them from the media. Hostages have usually been released within hours.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Only once before has a journalist kidnapped in Gaza been held for so long. A sound engineer from a French television network was taken for nine days this time last year, the same amount of time that Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig have been held -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Paula, thank you very much.
And we certainly hope that Steve and Olaf are freed as soon as possible. We wish them only, only the best.
Steve, Olaf. Hang in there.
Update: Note to Bob Laurence, TV critic, San Diego Union-Tribune: Here are 30 members of the media who aren't afraid to put politics aside and stand with Fox News. And guess what, they are, being Palestinian, journalists who would have most cause - don't you think? - to distance themselves from Fox.
Palestinian and foreign journalists including Anita McNaught (C-R) [and Fox News' Jennifer Griffen (red shirt)] protest against the kidnapping of McNaught's husband Olaf Wiig and Fox news journalist Steve Centanni by the parliament building in Gaza City.(AFP/Mohammed Abed)
Anita McNaught holds a picture of her husband, Fox news cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, as she speaks during a demonstration called by the Palestinian Journalists' Union in Gaza City Saturday Aug. 19, 2006. About 30 members of the Union, joined by McNaught and Jennifer Griffen, chief Fox News correspondent for the Middle East, at right with red shirt, gathered outside the parliamentary building in Gaza, holding up signs demanding the release of Wiig and American correspondent Steve Centanni. The two men were snatched Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
The pictures of cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, right, and American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, are held during a demonstration calling for their release in Gaza City Saturday Aug. 19, 2006. About 30 members of the Palestinian Journalists' Union , joined by Jennifer Griffen, chief Fox News correspondent for the Middle East, and Wiig's wife Anita McNaught gathered outside the parliamentary building in Gaza, holding up signs demanding the release of Wiig and American correspondent Steve Centanni. The two men were snatched Monday from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) Posted
9:32 PM
by Robert
