CNN

Timeline of Alan Johnston Captivity
AP, July 4,2007
published on FOXnews.com

British Broadcasting Corp. reporter Alan Johnston was held the longest of any foreigner in the Gaza Strip.

— March 12, 2007: Johnston is captured outside his Gaza City apartment street by gunmen. No group takes responsibility.

— April 5: A senior British diplomat and BBC officials meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to push for Johnston’s release, the first of several meetings between British diplomats and Hamas officials about Johnston. It is the first time British officials hold talks with Hamas officials in the Palestinian unity government, despite a Western boycott of the Islamic militant group.

— April 15: A previously unknown Palestinian group called “The Brigades of Tawheed of Jihad” says it killed Johnston. The BBC and Palestinian government say there is no evidence to back up the claim.

— April 17: Palestinian journalists in Gaza demonstrate to demand Palestinian security do more to win Johnston’s release.

— April 19: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says his intelligence services confirmed that Johnston is alive and that he knows which group is holding him.

— May 9: A shadowy militant group calling itself “The Army of Islam” says it is holding Johnston and posts a photo of his identity card on an Al Qaeda-linked Web site. The group demands the release of a militant Islamic cleric linked to Al Qaeda who is held in a U.K. jail.

— June 1: Johnston appears in a video posted on an Islamic militant Web site, saying he has been treated well, and calling for the lifting of international sanctions against the Palestinian government.

— June 14: Hamas routs forces linked to Abbas’ Fatah Party and completes a military takeover of Gaza.

—June 15: Abbas fires Haniyeh. The Hamas rulers in Gaza refuse to relinquish power and pledge to release Johnston.

— June 25: A video shows Johnston wearing what appears to be an explosives belt and warns it will be detonated if an attempt is made to free him by force. He says the “situation is very serious.”

— July 2: Hamas arrests the Army of Islam’s spokesman to put pressure on Johnston’s kidnappers.

— July 3: Hamas forces surround the hideout where Johnston is held.

— July 4: Johnston is released.

CNN

Wolf blitzer reported that Herodion is in the West bank. Unfortunately, Ben Wederman once again exposed his one sided brain. He can only think in terms of Israel. In this case he mentions the break from tensions that Israeli’s are getting from the discovery and change of subject. It’s the palestinians who are under occupation. It’s the palestinians being killed, arrested, abused, …….

Finally when they impose the current map of the region over the map of Herod’s so called kingdom, the West Bank and Gaza are once again just called Israel

BBC

Interesting that the BBC reported that Herodion is in the “occupied” West Bank. Can you imagine CNN doing something like that???

Another little overlooked detail in these reports was written about by Benny Ziffer in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Basically, the excavation being carried out in occupied territory is robbery.

The discovery of Herod’s tomb, or to be more precise a few fragments of dressed stone that one archaeology professor has concluded are the remains of Herod’s sarcophagus, have preoccupied television news and magazine programs since Tuesday. Amid the general zeal of the Londons and the Kirschenbaums and their talking-heads colleagues for demonstrating their mastery of the history of the Second Temple period, and to revive debates from their youth movement days over whether Herod was good or bad for the Jews, one important detail was forgotten, or almost forgotten: that the excavation of this tomb of Herod was carried out in occupied territory, where Israel has no moral right to dig and certainly not to remove archaeological artifacts. In the enlightened world, what Israel is doing is called robbery. …