Egypt negotiating to free kidnapped tourists
Arab Israeli man and Norwegian woman, currently held in desolate mountainous area in Sinai, may be released soon
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EL-ARISH, Egypt — Egyptian intelligence officials said Saturday afternoon that they were negotiating with Bedouin gunmen to free two tourists — an Arab Israeli man and a Norwegian woman — kidnapped along a main road in the south of the Sinai Peninsula.
Amir Omar Hassan, 26, and a Norwegian friend were reportedly grabbed by an armed Bedouin gang soon after they crossed from the Israeli to the Egyptian side of the border, en route to a local beach. The Israeli and his companions were traveling in a taxi, reported Channel 2 News.
According to Egyptian media reports, the gang pulled the foreigners from the taxi at gunpoint, and forced them into another car. The taxi driver was also kidnapped, but then released. It was the driver, an Egyptian Bedouin, who alerted the Egyptian authorities of the incident.
The intelligence officials said Saturday that a Bedouin kidnapper abducted the two to pressure police to release a cousin who is being held for his suspected involvement in the killing of policemen in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya.
Such motives have been common in past abductions. Tourists typically are not held long and are released unharmed.
On Friday, Egyptian police announced that they know the kidnappers’ identities and are doing everything they can to assure Hassan’s release.
“We are all here crossing our fingers for him. He contacted us and said that he was alive and well,” a friend of Hassan said.
According to Hassan’s family, Bedouin are holding him hostage until the Egyptian government releases two men, apparently drug dealers, who are currently imprisoned in Cairo.
Israeli officials confirmed earlier Friday that an Israeli and a female Norwegian friend had been kidnapped near the Taba crossing in the Sinai. According to the captive’s family, the 26-year-old Hassan said that he had crossed into the Peninsula with two female friends.
Hassan, a student from Nazareth, is a member of the country’s Arab minority.
The officials say the tourists, who were abducted Friday, are being held in a desolate mountainous area called Gabal-Maghara in Sinai.
All officials spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the subject.
The Times of Israel Community.