Missing BBC Correspondent Alan Johnston ‘Alive’

GAZA CITY (Palestinian Territory) April 19 – Missing BBC reporter Alan Johnston is still alive, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says. “Our intelligence services have confirmed to me that he’s alive,” Mr Abbas told reporters in Sweden.

Alan Johnston, 44, has not been seen since he was seized at gunpoint on his way home in Gaza City on 12 March.

AFP Photo: A Palestinian holds up
a poster of abducted BBC journalist
Alan Johnston during a rally...

Last Sunday, an unknown militant group said it had killed him, but the BBC said it could not verify the claim.

Mr Abbas said he knew which group was holding Mr Johnston but did not give any details.

‘Good news’

Mr Johnston’s father, Graham, said he was delighted at the report. “That’s good news, that’s really good news. This is the news I’ve been waiting to hear and I don’t think the Palestinian president would say this unless he was convinced it was true.

…

TEL AVIV, Israel (WND) April 19 – Kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston is believed to be alive and held by a Palestinian clan in the Gaza Strip demanding a $5 million ransom, according to senior Palestinian security officials speaking to WND.

The information follows claims by a previously unknown Islamist group this weekend that it killed the British reporter.

Palestinian security officials said their information indicates Johnston, who was kidnapped March 12, is being held by members of the Dugmash clan, a powerful Gaza-based Palestinian family affiliated with local terrorist organizations and ideologically aligned with global jihad groups.

According to Palestinian security officials, Johnston’s captors are demanding a $5 million ransom and have threatened if the money is not paid they will either sell Johnston to another group or kill him.

(SOURCE OF THIS STORY NEEDS A FACT CHECK – OUI)

Oct. 16, 2006 – In the National Journal, Jonathan Rauch reviews a new book by James Bowman called “Honor: A History ” in which Bowman argues that the terror war is an honor war :

The journalist-poet was speaking the language of traditional honor, a tongue that modern Westerners have largely forgotten — to their peril, if James Bowman is right. In a recently published and bracingly original book called Honor: A History, Bowman — a cultural critic and historian affiliated with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington — argues that honor remains a potent force in world affairs, perhaps more potent today than in many years, because it is central to the liberal West’s confrontation with militant Islam. If he is right, the terror war is really an honor war, but only one side knows it.