absolutely alex’s adventures & times

After constantly tightening the screw, Hamas, which now runs Gaza, has managed to get a Palestinian militant group holding BBC reporter Alan Johnston to set him free.

The Army of God had held the reporter hostage since March 12, or for nearly four months.

He was reported to be back in the BBC’s Gaza office, in good health.

Television footage showed Johnston exiting a building and entering a white car while accompanied by armed men. Johnston was handed over to the Hamas authorities.

Hamas, which beat its Palestinian rival Fatah to gain control of Gaza in June, had made freeing Johnston a top priority, vowing to “use all means to secure his life and to free him”. Two weeks ago, hopes had been running high that Johnston would be immediately released, thanks to Hamas’ insistence.

But the members of the Army of God had said they were not complying and even threatened to kill Johnston if their demand for the release of several Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are held in the UK. The Army of God even heightened fears for Johnston’s life when they showed a video of the reporter with an explosives belt strapped onto him. They had also released other videos of Johnston.

The BBC reports that on Monday, Hamas security forces had detained members of the Army of God in Gaza.

“The arrests were carried out after all negotiation attempts… failed to free the abducted journalist,” the Hamas-run interior ministry said in a statement. “The arrests are targeting figures who were involved in the abduction of the journalist.”

The BBC has put an online petition on its website, urging people to sign it for Johnston’s freedom.

In what is perhaps a setback for the release of kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston, his kidnappers have gone to the media, not with news of his freedom, but with threats to kill him if their demands were not met.

Gaza-based extremist group, the Army of Islam, which had said it has held Johnston since March, denied the Hamas’ line last Friday that Johnston’s release was imminent.

Hopes had earlier been raised that Johnston might see freedom soon after Hamas took control of Gaza late last week after a week of bloody fighting with its rival Palestinian faction, Fatah.

“Freeing this detainee has not been part of any deal with any faction or organisation. What appears on television screens and through the media here and there are untrue,” an Army of Islam spokesman said on al-Jazeera television channel. “If they do not meet our demands there will be no release for that detainee and if things become more difficult … then we would seek God’s satisfaction by slaughtering this journalist.”

The Army of Islam wants the release of Islamist prisoners, in particular Palestinian-born cleric Abu Qatada, who is detained in the UK.

Hamas has been anxious to secure Johnston’s release as it tries to show the world that it is battling the lawlessness in Gaza which its says is due to the lack of good governance by Fatah. It was also a sign to the international community that Hamas had no intention of threatening or holding foreign journalists.

In many ways, this would be a test for Hamas. It is anxious to prove that it has control over Gaza and has the ability to bring a semblance of stability there, even as most predict its failure, due to Gaza’s isolation and its dwindling supplies of electricity and food. International governments have reacted to Hamas’ victory there by bolstering their support of its rival, the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas. The US has pledged to stop its embargo against the Palestinian Authorities, while Israel had said it could work with a Palestinian government that does not have Hamas as a part of it.

Treated as a pariah state by the international community, Gaza will face much hardship in the coming weeks. It would be to Hamas’ advanatage to score a public relations victory by securing Johnston’s release.

Perhaps Hamas’ control of Gaza will yield at least one good thing — the freedom of captured BBC journalist Alan Johnston.

After a week of bitter fighting with Fatah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s forces, Hamas has gained the upper hand in Gaza. And one of the first things they have done, to their credit, is to announce that they have contacted Johnston’s kidnappers and demanded his release, according to the BBC.

Calling Mr Johnston a “guest of the Palestinian people”, a Hamas spokesman said Mr Johnston should be treated with welcome amongst the Palestinian people.

Mr Johnston went missing since the middle of March, and the Army of Islam, a Palestinian group, claims to have him, releasing a video of Mr Johnston earlier this month. In the video, Mr Johnston had said he was well-treated by his kidnappers.

The Hamas spokesman went beyond just demanding Mr Johnston’s release. He said Hamas won’t tolerate the captivity of foreign journalists.

Despite the bloodshed and power struggle, Hamas had pledged to work with President Abbas, recognizing his authority.

But the reality of the situation on the ground is more complex. Gunmen are known to be wielding the real power, not necessarily the politicians. There is no guarantee that they would follow orders from politicians.

We can only hope that Hamas will be able to enforce some form of discipline over its victorious forces in Gaza and direct them towards working to honor their pledge of freeing Johnston and ensure no more journalists are kidnapped by fringe groups.

BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who has been missing since March 12, has reportedly been kidnapped by a Gaza-based group called Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam).

In a tape submitted to the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera, the group claims they have Mr Johnston, showed his BBC work pass and demanded the release of Muslim prisoners held by the UK, specifically the release of Abu Qatana, a Palestinian-born cleric currently in British custody. According to the BBC, there isn’t much information about Jaish al-Islam other than it being a Palestinian group.

The Palestinian government says it is still working on securing Mr Johnston’s release and believes he is still alive. Here’s hoping they will soon get Mr Johnston free.

Sign the online petition to free Alan Johnston here.

The BBC has this astonishing story – the Germans, known as one of the most intrepid globe-trotters, are cutting down on travels abroad, in the name of saving the environment.

To satisfy their travel lust, they’re going to other parts of Germany, the warmer coastal regions, mostly by trains so that they can cut down on flying, which happens to generate loads of carbon emissions.

I’m thoroughly ashamed.

I’m not sure if I can follow in their stellar footsteps. This, while I fancy myself a bit of an environmental protector, like doing my best to conserve energy, recycle, buy green products, etc. When we want to do good for the environment, it’s not about doing it only when it’s convenient to us, it’s about doing it nonetheless, right?

One of my first questions about the story was, how do they restrain themselves? My cynical side thought – hmm, maybe they have already traveled all over anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

But of course that couldn’t be. The world is such as humongous place that there’s no end to the places we could go and the things we could see.

These people are really doing it in good conscience. Yikes.

More atrociously, my next question was, why, as this world is huge, fascinating and beautiful, with so much more to be explored.

I have been bitten by the travel bug since my teens, when I made a trip to Australia and had the grandest time, staying in backpackers’ hostels, visiting all those famous sites and hopping on trains and buses to get from one city to the next along the east coast of Australia.

After that high, I vowed to myself that I’d slave, scrimp and save for the rest of my life to have enough money to travel to as many places as I can, before I die.

I’m still doing it now in my much older age, making an effort to travel at least twice a year, usually to a different place each time so that I’m on track in my goal.

It has been such an exhilarating experience. I have seen amazing sights, met incredible people and taken such treasured photos of my travels. I’ve been lost in so many places but the trick is to just go with the flow and explore wherever I happen to be stranded in and enjoy the moment. Every trip I have had is a matter of being more or less enjoyable, but never bad. All this is hard for me to let go of.

I know I could look at alternative ways of getting to the places I want to go. Buses and trains are some of the more harmless means of transport, compared to planes. I’m not proud to say that I couldn’t completely do as the Germans did. I wish I was a better person but travel is my Achilles heel. I guess that means I would just have to work harder in other aspects to offset this.

Amidst the doom and gloom of global warming and its catastrophic consequences, Seville in the south of Spain is shining a light on alternative energy.

There, a new power plant using solar thermal power employs 600 giant mirrors to reflect light from the sun to a 40-floor tower. The heat activates a boiler at the top of the tower, generating steam, which powers up turbines, in turn generating electricity.

For now, it generates 11MW of electricity without emiting greenhouse gases, but will eventually produce enough for 600,000 Seville inhabitants when thousands more giant mirrors of 120 sqm each are ready.

What an inspiring innovation!

Along with wind power, this is another form of alternative energy that begs to be taken seriously. Naysayers may argue that the power generated from this solar thermal method costs three times more than conventional means, but I say export the technology to countries with a constant supply of sunlight, like those in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and parts of Asia who can afford it, first.

With improved technology and economies of scale kicking in eventually, its costs could well become comparable to that of conventional power plants.

The cynical side of me thinks rich states like Saudi Arabia and Dubai, which fulfil the criteria of having vast amounts of sunny days and can afford implementing it, would be likely to resist. It’s obvious – why would they want to invest in something that could threaten to end their profitable stream of income from oil?

But Seville shows that we can, and there are viable clean energy sources to be harnessed. No doubt it costs more for now but if we were truly serious about averting the crisis to our planet, then it’s high time we put our money where our mouth is. The time for action is now.

Read the BBC story here, or watch how the tower works here.

Just doing my wee bit here, hopefully, to help save the life of an outstanding and compassionate fellow journalist – the BBC’s Alan Johnston.

Mr Johnston was seized while working in Gaza City on March 12, and though he is still believed to be alive, the BBC says there hasn’t been direct information on his fate.

His colleagues at the BBC, along with European parliament members, and journalists in parts of the world, are agitating or working to have him freed.

Please sign the online petition on BBC to have him freed: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6518185.stm
Or you can also help by doing this http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/04/how_you_can_help.html

Here’s praying that Mr Johnston will be safe, and free, at the soonest.