Kidnapped journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig are alive and unharmed, Palestinian officials told the AP today. Yesterday, the Hamas government spokesperson said that he expected "good news" in the next two days:

Palestinian officials said Saturday they expect to have "good news" about two kidnapped Fox News journalists within two days and believe the hostages are unharmed. ...

On Friday, the Palestinian interior minister suggested some progress has been made in securing the hostages' freedom. Ghazi Hamad, the government spokesman, added Saturday: "I hope that we can hear good news within the coming two days."

Hamad did not give the basis for his assessment.

The Interior Ministry spokesman said the journalists are apparently unharmed.

"The information available to us is that they are fine, " said Khaled Abu Hilal. He said authorities were not negotiating with the kidnappers. "I want to clarify that the efforts are not negotiations," he said. "But we want to get to positive results which is their release and that is all."

That optimisim comes in contrast to the demands and deadline issued by the kidnappers themselves. They have demanded that the US release all of its Muslim prisoners -- everywhere, presumably including in state prisons and local jails. The US does not negotiate with terrorists under any circumstances, and certainly would not release criminals from prison because of their religious affiliation.

If this group has any sophistication at all, it knows this already. The demands seem designed for failure, which does not bode well for the two journalists. Rusty at My Pet Jawa reports that this group produces jihadi videos and has a pretty high level of sophistication, which seems rather bad. However, there are also conflicting reports that the abductors are Palestinian civil servants who wanted to pressure the government into giving them their back pay. And Hamas may play that into a chance to wear the white hat for the West, "negotiating" the freedom of the hostages and being the hero of the moment in an attempt to rehabilitate themselves with the Palestinian Authority's paymasters.

It's all wheels within wheels, as so often is the case in that region. If they're still alive now, it's because someone thinks their more valuable that way. If that changes, we hope that Centanni and Wiig have a head start to freedom.

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» Hamas Expects Good News On Centanni And Wiig Withing 2 Days from Liberty and Justice
Umh, it would be nice that they'd at least know when the deadline passes if they're the ones talking to the kidnappers. [Read More]

Tracked on August 26, 2006 1:00 PM

» Journalists Still Held By Terrorists from A Blog For All
Centanni and Wiig are likely to be released later tonite according to Hamas' Haniyeh...It remains to be seen whether this comes to pass. Let's hope that it comes true - and that there are no conditions on their release. [Read More]

Tracked on August 26, 2006 5:20 PM