The timing of the kidnapping of French journalist Muhammad Ouathi came during the most critical era possible, not only for the Palestinian Authority (P.A.), but the whole Palestinian cause as well. It was the time that Israel was about to start evacuating the Gaza Strip on the one hand, while the P.A., on the other, had been exerting the utmost effort to win international credibility through proving its capability to control security and order in the strip and providing the quiet environment for Israel to implement the slated withdrawal.
Important as the timing of the abduction which harmed the highest Palestinian national interests – though some extremist circles might think otherwise – the criminal kidnapping is, in itself, a rejected, condemned act, strange to the traditions of the Palestinian people, its customs and characteristics. The abduction of this journalist, together with all previous kidnappings, was received with waves of condemnations and anger all through the Palestinian territories, and all factions strived to deny any relations with such inhuman, uncivilized activities.
There were many questions raised about the motives or the benefits – if any – of those who committed this crime, compared to the negative impact inflicted on the image of the Palestinian people, being accused of terror, kidnapping innocents, the absence of a governing authority and lack of law and order.
It might be a point of interest that all previous abductions before Ouathi’s, usually ended with the victims being released within hours. It never happened that any of these events lasted more than one day – while in Ouathi’s case he was detained for nine days. This added a wide-scale international political dimension to his ordeal, thus pressing various local and global organizations and states, especially his own country, France, to intervene – raising their voices high to demand the release of this professional journalist, who had no relation or connection with any party that might be hostile to the Palestinians, neither did he behave in a way that would justify kidnapping him and keeping him detained for this long period.
What could be concluded from the release of Ouathi is that it has put a satisfactory end to a sad event that shook Palestinian society, which is unaccustomed to that sort of outlawed activity. More of a relief was that he was safe and in good condition when he was released. Yet the circumstances of his abduction remain mysterious, with no clue that could lead to the party which kidnapped him or their motives. Since the security of the Palestinian people, the stability in the Palestinian territories and enforcement of law and order here all require putting an end to these crimes, there is an urgent need for a follow-up of all these cases, tracking down those responsible and taking all the relevant steps to make sure such crimes will never recur. This is a debt the P.A. must owe to the security of its citizens and their foreign guests, and to the enhancement of national security, through equal application of law on all Palestinian factions and individuals.
It should be understood by all parties, which dare to kidnap and deprive people of their freedom, that this method is the most dangerous violation of valid laws all over the world. No respected organization or faction resorts to this tactic, used only by criminal gangs or individuals who stand against law and order in their countries, and prefer to take the law in their own hands. The core point of this matter, put in its Middle Eastern context, is that there should be a vast difference between the Palestinian and Iraqi situations – taking into account that the kidnapping tactic is rejected in principle and even as a mere theory. A major variant should be that Palestinians have an elected government, parliament and president on which all of them agree.
The release of Ouathi would never be a starting point of a new Palestinian era, which pulls down the curtain over the kidnapping phenomenon, unless the identities of the parties which undertook these crimes are uncovered, and a national mechanism to prevent the repetition of such events is formulated. All Palestinian citizens must be obliged by this mechanism, whether individuals, organizations, factions, families or clans – to the extent of this mechanism being regarded as a national code of honor applicable to everybody, without any exception.
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Muhammad S. Abdallah is the editorial page editor at Al-Quds.