Israeli Arab TV producer kidnapped

Palestinian police were searching for an Israeli Arab producer for the TV network CNN kidnapped at gunpoint on a busy Gaza City street, and the network joined journalists’ associations is demanding his immediate release.

The motive of yesterday’s twilight kidnapping was not clear. Hours later the kidnappers had made no public statement or demand, and all Palestinian militant factions denied involvement.

Kidnapping of a journalist is almost unprecedented in Gaza.

The armed kidnappers targeted the producer, Riad Ali, by name. He was seized while riding in a van with two American CNN colleagues. The Americans and the Palestinian driver were not detained.

Israeli Arab journalist Rafik Halabi, who supervised Ali when he worked at Israel TV, said Ali has not been harmed. ”What I understand, what I know, is that Riad, my good friend and colleague, is alive and well,” Halabi told Army Radio, refusing to elaborate. The military radio station said contact had been made with the kidnappers, but gave no further details.

Tensions in Gaza have been running high since the killing of a leader of the Hamas military wing in a car bombing in Damascus on Sunday. Israeli security sources have acknowledged Israeli involvement in the attack, and Hamas vowed revenge.

Palestinian gunmen in Gaza have seized several foreigners in four years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, but usually released them after a few hours, often under pressure from their leaders.

Foreigners and Israeli Arab journalists have felt relatively safe in Gaza. During the four-year conflict, a few reporters have been detained briefly by gunmen, but there have been no actual kidnappings.

CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman, who was in the van, said in a broadcast he did not know why Ali was kidnapped. CNN said in a statement it had not heard from the abductors. The network, along with the Foreign Press Association and the Palestinian Journalists Association, demanded his immediate release.