Centanni and Wiig: U.S. negotiated secretly?
Hoda Osman of ABC’s The Blotter writes about an article in the al Hayat newspaper today that says the Centanni and Wiig were freed after secret negotiations with the U.S. concerning Israeli actions…(via TVNewser)
Last week, the previously unknown group calling itself “The Holy Jihad Brigades” issued a statement demanding the release of all Muslims held in U.S. prisons in return for the release of the two journalists. In fact, the paper reports that the public demand was not serious and that the group’s “real demands” were that the U.S. press Israel to reopen the the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Palestine and cease the shelling of “Palestinian activists’” residences.
According to the report, the mediators contacted a representative of a European country who in turn contacted U.S. and British diplomats. The paper’s sources said in the report that members of a senior FBI delegation, who had arrived in the area a few days earlier, were also involved in the negotiations.
The announcement that the two journalists had converted to Islam as a reason for their release was only a camouflage to conceal the fact that the U.S. had agreed to the hostage-takers’ demands, according to the sources cited in the article. A few days ago the Rafah crossing was reopened for a few hours daily, and the Israeli forces stopped shelling residences of activists in the past few days, noted the paper’s sources.
It ought to be interesting to see if any cable news shows discuss or report on this story.
Comment by Terance — August 29, 2006 @ 5:42 pm
This is the al Hayat newspaper Terrance. It’s spin. Maybe there were negotiations, but the kidnappers only got things they were going to get anyway. I haven’t exactly seen any starving Gaza Palestinians; have you? Perhaps that is why the Rafah crossing was reopened; they had to open it eventually.
Comment by erljr — August 29, 2006 @ 8:39 pm