Armed men in Gaza kidnap Israeli citizen working for CNN

Armed Palestinian gunmen abducted an Israeli citizen in Gaza City on Monday evening. Riad Abu Ali, a Druze citizen from the village of M'ar in the Galilee, is a producer and translator for the U.S.-based Cable News Network.

Ali is in his thirties, married and father to three children.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority are carrying on extensive contacts in hopes of bringing the issue to a close. Members of the PA security apparatus are in contact with the gunmen trying to win Ali's release.

The Palestinians do not have the intelligence information on Ali's whereabouts, security sources in Israel said on Monday evening, adding that Israel expects the matter to be settled diplomatically.

The Israel Defense Forces believe that the PA will try to bring about Ali's release quickly and quietly since the abduction of a CNN employee is a source of embarrassment for the Palestinians.

The kidnapping happened close to 6:30 in the evening outside the news network's offices in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City. Ali was in the area with a CNN reporter and a photographer, both of whom carry American citizenship.

According to the reporter, Ben Wedeman, a car carrying five armed Palestinians in their twenties, some of whom with clean-shaven heads, stopped near the three reporters.

One of the armed men exited the car holding a pistol.

"Which one of you is Riad?" he asked. Once Ali was identified, the kidnapper forced him to enter the car at gunpoint before the group drove off.

"We had no indication that this was going to happen," Wedeman told CNN on Monday evening.

"There were several men who got out of [the] car. Some of them had AK-47 assault rifles, others, pistols," Wedeman said.

"They made no attempt to conceal their faces. They took Riad out of the car and drove him away. We're obviously burning up the phone lines, contacting anyone who might know anything about this. But at this point we have no information about Riad's whereabouts."

It remains unclear which organization is behind Ali's abduction. According to initial rumors, Hamas was the group responsible for the kidnapping. Palestinian sources, however, later pointed to smaller organizations.

A spokesman for Hamas condemned the kidnapping. "The act is a violation of the rights of journalists and freedom of expression and goes against the true morals of our people."

Defense officials received warnings of possible kidnappings of Israeli citizens, among them journalists, in the Gaza Strip.

Journalists were in some instances barred for short periods of time from entering the region in the last year as a result of the warnings. On Monday, security officials once again prevented journalists from entering the strip.

According to initial reports, the armed men tracked Ali's car as he departed CNN's production offices. When he reached the city's Rimal neighborhood, they stopped the car and grabbed him.

Wedeman, who said he was also in the van, did not know why his colleague was kidnapped.

"This is something I've never experienced," Wedeman added. "These men were not very communicative. They asked which one of us was Riad and that was it."

He said the gunmen looked like "your average Gazan of their age, which was somewhere in their early 20s."

The CNN network said in a statement, "We have not heard from Ali's abductors but urge them to release Riad immediately."

"We are working actively for Riad's safe return and are in touch with his family, offering them our full support during this difficult time."

After the kidnapping, the Israel Defense Forces closed the main crossing from Israel into Gaza, "following security assessments and security alerts."

The military would not say if the decision was tied to the abduction.

Ali's family appeals to Hadash MK for assistanceAli's family appealed to MK Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash) and requested that he assist in efforts to bring about Ali's release. Barakeh contacted Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's office and relayed a message to Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip urging them to ensure the urgent release of Ali.

The Union of Foreign Journalists in Israel condemned the kidnapping, and called on relevant authorities to respect journalists' independence. The union called on both Israel and the Palestinians to respect the security of the journalists and uphold the right to freedom of movement.

Ali began working for Channel One in 1998 as a researcher for the 'Arabesque' program. He joined the news team as a reporter in the territories in 2000, and was responsible for reports from the territories, mainly the Gaza Strip. He interviewed masked men on several occasions. Ali's reports were broadcast on the Channel One news, and on the channel's news in Arabic.

Ali was dismissed in 2002 due to differences of opinion with the channel's management, and was hired by CNN, where he began work as a producer. His friends at the network described his as well-connected to Palestinian sources. In the past, Ali also lead dialogue groups at a school in Neveh Shalom.

Rafik Halabi, the former head of Channel One's news department, who hired Ali, said that the latter's reports raised the ire of the right and of the channel's general manager on a number of occasions, because Ali presented the Palestinian side. Halabi described Ali as a "courageous journalist who was unafraid."

Gil Sadan, a Channel One reporter who is friends with Ali, and who worked with him in the past, described him as the best Israeli Arab journalist.

"He is an extraordinary journalist who never goes according to formulae, but according to original thought and creativity." Sadan said that Ali, who did not serve in the IDF, "tends to define himself as an Arab, and then as a Druze, and certainly wasn't identified with the Israeli establishment.

	Riad Abu Ali was kidnapped at gunpoint in Gaza City. (CNN)