13 Middle East Hostages Released

The New Year brings some positive news for the friends and families of 13 hostages kidnapped recently in Iraq, Yemen, and the Gaza Strip.

From TheStar.com:

Those released yesterday include Juergen Chrobog, a former German foreign minister, his wife and their three children, who had been held in Yemen by tribesmen for the past three days.

Also released yesterday were five Sudanese embassy staff -- including Abd al-Munim al-Huri, the Sudanese embassy's second secretary -- who were seized by kidnappers in Baghdad Friday.

And on Friday, kidnappers in the Gaza Strip released Kate Burton, a 25-year-old British human rights worker, and her parents. The three were abducted Wednesday in the chaotic southern town of Rafah on the Egyptian border.

While both Yemen and Sudan complied with the kidnappers' demands, the Palestinians released abducted Britons as a purported gesture of goodwill.

The Yemeni government agreed to the demand to hold talks with tribal leaders regarding release of five members of the tribe currently being detained. Sudan agreed to the demand to close its embassy to free the abducted diplomats and allow them to leave Iraq.

Britons Kate Burton, her father Hugh, and mother Helen were abducted by a group called the Brigades of the Mujahideen-Jerusalem with demands that,

Britain and the rest of Europe apply pressure on Israel to end the "no-go" zone it imposed in northern Gaza last week to stop rocket fire. The group also wants Israel to free prisoners, pull back troops in the occupied West Bank and end the assassination of militant leaders.

Presumably with considerable unofficial negotiation, Burton and her parents were released unharmed "as a gesture of goodwill." The masked, armed kidnappers released a video in which the following statement was read.

"We have decided to pardon the three Britons as a gesture of goodwill in return for a seriousness in answering our demands."

So, they kidnap and threaten the lives of three people, only to release them in return for a promise of "seriousness." Personally, that's a steamy pile of used oats. What are we going to be asked to believe next? The bus full of Israelis was bombed because there was insufficient seriousness? Not likely.

Although it's good news that the hostages were released, it comes at a price. In two of the three cases, the message was clearly sent to the thug terrorists that kidnapping works. Yemen and Sudan rolled over like trained dogs.

Companion at Jawa.