US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV6084

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 006084 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2015 
TAGS: KWBG, KPAL, PGOV, PINS, PTER, US, UK, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT: KIDNAPPING OF KNIGHT RIDDER JOURNALISTS 
 
 
Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Norman H. Olsen.  Reason 1. 
4 (B/D). 
 
(U) This message has been cleared by Consulate General 
Jerusalem. 
 
1.  (C) The October 12 kidnapping of an American reporter, 
Dion Nissenbaum, and a British photographer, Adam Pletts, 
near Khan Yunis is symptomatic of the lawlessness that 
prevails in the Gaza Strip, according to Embassy Fatah 
contacts in Gaza.  An influential Fatah-affiliated lawyer in 
Gaza City told Embassy poloff that this kidnapping -- like 
other recent abductions -- represented a challenge to the 
Palestinian Authority (PA), rather than an attack directed at 
specific individuals, such as these journalists. 
 
2.  (C) UN sources reported that six gunmen from the Rafah 
and Khan Yunis-based Al Najar family in Gaza conducted the 
kidnapping.  ConGen sources suggest that the motive was to 
put pressure on the PA to officially recruit the gunmen into 
PA security services and the Israeli press reports that the 
kidnappers had demanded that the PA raise the salaries of 
their relatives who serve in the Palestinian police.  A 
Gaza-based PLC member, Abdullah Efrangi, confirmed to Embassy 
poloff that the perpetrators were indeed from the Al Najar 
family, but noted that leaders within this large family had 
condemned the kidnapping: "This was a well-known, bad group 
from within the Al-Najar family that sought to blackmail the 
PA."  Efrangi emphasized that this group -- which press 
reports have referred to as the "Black Panther" group -- is 
unrelated to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a larger, more 
organized group affiliated loosely with the Fatah movement. 
Another Gaza contact who follows security issues closely 
indicated that this is the first time in his recollection of 
any group operating under that name. 
 
3.  (C) Press and UN reports highlighted the role that 
Palestinian police and security officials, such as BG Jamal 
Kayed and Police Chief Ala Husni, played major roles in 
securing the quick release of the two Knight Ridder 
journalists, who were abducted at 1530 hours on October 12 in 
the Al Mawasi area, near the former Gush Katif settlement 
bloc west of Khan Yunis.  The UN reported that members of the 
Salah Ed-Din brigades (military wing of the "Popular 
Resistance Committees") negotiated with the kidnappers for 
several hours in an attempt to secure their release. 
 
4.  (C) Embassy Fatah contacts confirmed that President Abbas 
himself had intervened to secure their release by 2100 that 
night.  (Note:  The CG and General Ward personally weighed in 
with Abbas' chief of staff and the Minister of Interior; see 
septel.  End note.)  Efrangi acknowledged, however, that a 
number of other groups outside the PA also weighed in to 
secure the release, and complained that the PA security 
forces lack the necessary means to confront the 
militarization of Gazan society or the threat posed by 
organized militias such as Hamas.  Efrangi said he is 
confident that Fatah will be able to exert greater discipline 
over some organized militias.  Absent jobs, trade and the 
opening of Rafah crossing, however, Efrangi is less sanguine 
about the PA's prospects for instituting the rule of law in 
the Gaza Strip. 
 
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JONES