 NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen on Sunday released a U.S. student they had seized hours earlier as he was on a sightseeing visit to the conflict-battered city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Benjamin Bright-Fishbein, an undergraduate student of Brown University, was freed into the hands of Palestinian security forces who then handed him over to the Israelis outside Nablus, a militant stronghold during a Palestinian uprising.
Looking drawn after the ordeal, Bright-Fishbein told Reuters that his lone visit to Nablus had been "a mistake, a big mistake."
The militants got Bright-Fishbein to make a videotaped statement in which he said he would be killed if Israel did not release Palestinian prisoners. The faction of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades that grabbed him had said he was an Israeli.
Bright-Fishbein recounted how he had been abducted by a gunman called Ahmed who bumped into him in a coffee shop where the student, who speaks Arabic, had been smoking a water pipe. "He (Ahmed) had a pistol, a grenade and a machinegun. I didn't want to be in his company, but it seemed I didn't have any choice at that point," Bright-Fishbein said.
| What on earth was he doing there in the first place? |
For the videotaped statement, Bright-Fishbein was dressed in the skullcap of a religious Jew. Looking into the camera he said "If the prisoners are not released, they will execute me."
Reports that a hostage had been seized sparked a frantic manhunt by Israeli troops and Palestinian security forces to try to track down the kidnappers. "In the end, I got the impression that they were in over their heads and they were going crazy talking on the phone. They clearly had no idea what they were doing. They were not organized," he said.
| Sounds like the Paleos all right. |
Gunmen have frequently seized foreigners in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to press for jobs or to make political demands. Hostages have usually been released unharmed after a few hours.
Bright-Fishbein said that he visited Nablus by himself because he had heard it was an interesting place, but could find nobody else to come with him after finishing a study semester in Jerusalem.
"Benny, are you nuts? Come to Tel-Aviv, the girls are plenty there!"
"But I hear Nablus is an interesting place."
"So's hell, but you don't want to visit there either. Come to Tel Aviv!"
"Umm, you guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you later." |
Palestinian security sources said an investigation had begun into who carried out the kidnapping.
| We wait with baited breath as to the outcome ... |
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, but they are splintered into numerous groups that often have little coordination with each other.
| Love the Reuters understatement. |
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