1 story, 2 versions

Which might in fact mean 2 stories:

Here's the Beeb version.

And here's G. version (unedited). G. actually lives with the German guy in question.

My roommate's eventful night…

Perhaps you have read in the news today that a German was kidnapped and released in Nablus yesterday. You might also have seen pictures of gunmen threatening the French cultural centre in Nablus… This picture is fake. The men in the picture were the police sent there to protect the centre in case it was attacked. What did happen, thought, is that my roommate Chris got kidnapped last night… This begs the question, what will be the newspaper headlines in the next few days? Who did it? Why did they do it? What does it mean?

Everything is over now and Chris is in a German government car on his way back to Jerusalem. Goodbyes were awkward and we were not allowed to accompany him to the checkpoint to say goodbye. The coordinators of Project Hope (where I work) deemed it "too dangerous"… this is just another bullshit excuse to make themselves look more important (but I will explain my issues with project hope in another email….suffice it to say that I don't recommend anyone ever coming to Palestine to work with Project Hope). The Hamas mayor of Nablus came to see us (i.e. the internationals of Nablus) today to present his apologies for what had happened. He repeated the same thing I will tell you now, which is that none of the major militant groups were involved. This was an isolated event carried out by two individuals and the governorate of Nablus will be providing physical protection to the best of its capacity for the coming days just in case something else might happen.

Still, in order to fully understand the context and probable repercussions of this event, it would help to get a little background on the situation in Nablus and Palestine in the past few months. Nablus is the largest city in Palestine. Last December, it overwhelmingly voted in favor of Hamas for the municipal elections. Last month, during the legislative elections, Nablus was another stronghold that contributed to Hamas' overall striking win in the whole of Palestine. Nablus is also located in the West Bank, which has never experienced serious kidnappings (i.e. kidnapping which last longer than a day) as we can frequently see in Gaza. In spite of that, however, the past few days have been somewhat tense because of the recent publishing of caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohamed. A weak but general resentment can be felt towards the Danes and the French because of this. A massive demonstration is planned for today and we ( i.e. the foreigners of Nablus), have already received notice that it would be better to stay away from downtown, at least during the demonstration.

Yesterday evening started as usual, with my flat mates and me eating Nutella straight from the pot in the middle of a cold kitchen. A local friend, who happens to be a policeman, gets a phone call. Chris has just been kidnapped. They don't know where he is and our coordinator from work is franticly calling everyone to make sure they are home or on their way home. 15 minutes later, we are all home waiting anxiously for an answer. The news we get is erratic but we understand that gunmen walked into Al-Yasmin hotel ( i.e. the only fancy hotel of the old town) and took Chris away, together with two Palestinian friends (Alaa and Abed, whose names are not even mentioned in the news reports…yet they were kidnapped as well!!). A general feeling of stress sets in as we try to reassure ourselves that nothing bad ever happened in the West Bank and that it surely won't start tonight. Nevertheless, an eerie calmness takes over the flat as we all start walking around, shaking, and trying to call as many people as we can. After a few unsuccessful attempts, nearly all foreigners in Nablus are accounted for. At this point, our hopes are confirmed when we get a phone call saying that Chris has been released and will come back home right after being released by the police.

But who did it? The first group that comes to mind in this case is Al-Aqsa martyr's brigades. They have called on Danes and French citizens to leave Gaza and have threatened violent action if their demands are not met. Secondly, one might point to which political party is in power in Nablus, Hamas. Aside from Islamic Jihad, they are probably the most fundamentalist Islamic group around. Would it not be a logical inference that they would be amongst those most offended by the actions? In the end, it turns out that none of the major groups did it. Whether it was a group of thugs with guns or an ideologically driven group remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that they work independently and without the approval of any of the major groups. As soon as the kidnapping became known, all of the major groups started looking for Chris. Both Al-Aqsa and Hamas were searching the streets and interrogating people to find out who had carried out the kidnapping. This is probably one of the reasons why Chris was released so quickly… Whoever this group was, it will surely get into a lot of trouble form the larger militant groups, whose reputation has now been tarnished because the way this event might be portrayed in the media.

Chris is back in the apartment now, and aside from a little shock, he is doing OK. He is joking about how disappointed the kidnappers were that he was not French. The kidnappers took his oud but he is certainly happy to be alive and well. All his friends have come over and the chaos that preceded his release has been replaced by the chaos of tea drinking and smoking…. Here we are, and the banality of the kidnapping has already gone past Chris and his unexpected and unique "Palestinian vacation". Already, we are telling our own personal stories of how this event has affected us…. Nablusi life will start again as normal tomorrow, except for Chris who has been ordered back to Germany by his embassy.

What will the repercussions be for the city of Nablus, or Palestine in general? My lack of access to international news means I can't really tell what this will be like, but from the little I know, the chance of this event being misinterpreted is quite high. Already, the lack of information in itself leaves so much up to interpretation. The German news reported it as "English Teacher kidnapped in Nablus". What is someone supposed to understand by that? Will there be any further depth to reports on this kidnapping? Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Perhaps it's just that it feels incredibly weird to see a crime committed in such close proximity.