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August 17, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 8:41pm

Fox to appeal for release

By Press Gazette

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has scheduled a meeting with Fox News in the Middle East to resolve the predicament of two of the channel’s journalists who were kidnapped on Monday, writes Zoe Smith.

Fox correspondent Steve Centanni and his cameraman, New Zealander Olaf Wiig, were ambushed while working in Gaza.

Wiig’s wife, BBC World presenter Anita McNaught, told New Zealand’s National Radio: “The bottom line is there is no good reason for these men to be held. They are friends of the Palestinians. They are here telling the Palestinian story for weeks now, when the rest of the world’s media has not been here.”

According to Associated Press, the Fox journalists, along with a bodyguard, were parked near the headquarters of the Palestinian security services when two trucks filled with gunmen pulled up and boxed them in.

The gunmen took the two out of their sports utility vehicle, which was marked “TV”, and drove away.

Reporters Without Borders said that 10 journalists have been kidnapped in the Palestinian territories in the past 12 months.

New Zealand’s deputy secretary at the Foreign Ministry, John Larkin, said that diplomats would “be working to see what information we can find, what leads we can follow and provide support to the British and Americans”.

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The Palestinian police said that no one had claimed responsibility for the abductions or come forward with demands.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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