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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (45824)	5/20/2004 1:48:58 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793964

Ahh, those peaceful Pals. May 20, 2004 New York Times Reporter Escapes Gaza Kidnap Bid By REUTERS Filed at 7:36 a.m. ET RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - A New York Times correspondent narrowly escaped a kidnap attempt by Palestinians while covering a massive Israeli army raid into Gaza's Rafah refugee camp, the newspaper said on Thursday. James Bennet, bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories, said he was speaking on a cellphone in front of a Rafah hospital on Wednesday when a Palestinian he did not know came up, smiled and offered his hand, saying ``Welcome.'' When Bennet shook his hand, the man and another Palestinian grabbed him and tried to thrust him into an old Mercedes car that pulled up with its back door open, recalling kidnappings of foreigners by Muslim militants in wartime Beirut in the 1980s. An abduction was averted only by police at the hospital, who ran to Bennet's assistance in response to his struggle and cries. The men then jumped in the car and sped away, the correspondent said in his dispatch in Thursday's Times. There had been no previous incident of its kind since the September 2000 outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against Israel when a Newsweek journalist was briefly held by militants in the Gaza Strip. He was freed unharmed. Anti-American sentiment has risen among Palestinians during the course of the conflict over what they see as the White House's pro-Israel tilt. Bennet identified himself as an American at the hospital. The Foreign Press Association in the region deplored the kidnapping attempt as ``a dangerous new development'' and urged officials on both sides to ensure the independence and integrity of journalists. Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd.