Palestinians explore contacts in BBC kidnapping

Gaza, May 3: Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said today his aides were seeking a possible meeting with people close to those involved in the suspected kidnapping of the BBC's correspondent in Gaza.

Haniyeh told reporters in the troubled enclave that those believed to have been holding Alan Johnston since his car was found abandoned on March 12 had also sought guidance from Muslim clerics on the religious legitimacy of their actions.

''I have instructed a person from my office to follow this issue with a channel of contact and I have asked him to look into the possibility of convening a meeting with people close to the suspected kidnappers,'' Haniyeh said.

''The arrangements for this meeting are under way.'' Haniyeh, whose ruling Hamas Islamist movement has been shunned by Western states for its refusal to renounce violence or recognise Israel, repeated that the Palestinian authorities have heeded British government requests that they not mount a raid to free the hostage for fear of risking Johnston's life.

The 44-year-old Briton is the only Western correspondent based full-time in Gaza, where the year-old embargo and fighting among militants have worsened living conditions for the 1.4 million people crammed in the territory.

Journalists and other foreigners go there increasingly rarely because of the risk of kidnap.

The British public broadcaster has said it has had no definite word on Johnston's fate since his disappearance.

Reuters>