Johnston’s abduction sparked a huge campaign by fellow journalists to secure his release. He was finally freed in July after pressure from Hamas, the militant Islamic movement, which had recently taken control in Gaza. Since his release Johnston has talked little to the media, but last week he published a book of his radio dispatches, “Kidnapped,” that includes an account of his ordeal. In London he spoke to NEWSWEEK’s William Underhill. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: You were well aware of the dangers when you chose to remain in Gaza. What persuaded you to stay? Alan Johnston: Any journalist weighs up the worth of the story against the risks. For me Gaza sits at the middle of that Palestinian story, so I was never in any doubt [about remaining]. There was always the danger of being kidnapped, but at first the kidnaps were carried out by far less threatening little organizations that really only wanted to use Westerners as bargaining chips. My big mistake was to think that Gaza was too much of a little village where everybody knew everybody’s business, to hide a foreigner for long.
There must have been occasions when you feared for your life. I’d say there were three times when I thought that death was a possibility, including when they said that they were thinking about executing me. But on each occasion I thought it was unlikely: I was more use to them alive. But I did think that things were building to such a climax that there was going to be some sort of showdown. On the last night I thought I was more likely to die than live.
That was because of the risk of a shootout? Hamas was closing in, and my fear was that they would storm the building. I just felt that it was unlikely that the people holding me, in their horror, fear and rage, would allow me to be rescued alive in that situation.
Did you come close to absolute despair, when you thought your captivity would never end? There was a terrible sensation that my life had just taken the most disastrous path and that I might be there for two, five or even seven years. You felt almost a physical sense of anxiety, that sensation of being buried alive. But you knew that if you could lose some mental battles you must not lose the war—and not just for your own mental health. If you allowed yourself to collapse and break down you’d perhaps become a pathetic figure in the eyes of the guards, and that might invite their contempt, maybe even their violence.
The thought of escape must have occurred to you. There were a couple of possibilities, and it was easy to become obsessed with them, but whenever I really thought it through I always felt the chances of getting away were just so limited. Even if I managed to get down the stairs, the whole area was in the hands of the clan that was operating with the kidnappers and there was no way a Westerner on the streets would get far.
There was a huge campaign underway to secure your release. To what extent were you aware of that? After 17 days [when I was given a radio] I very quickly realized what an extensive campaign the BBC was mounting on my behalf. Most moving of all was the reaction of Palestinians who took to the streets in various parts of the occupied territories. In the fifth week of my captivity, my colleagues in the Palestinian media actually fought with the police as they [tried] to storm the parliament to urge that more to be done to secure my release.
How did your experience change your opinion of the Palestinian cause? Over those three years of being completely immersed in the conflict it would be a bit pathetic if an individual experience were to profoundly reorder your understanding of the dynamics. The one thing that I had always suspected would happen as the occupation grinds on is a further radicalization of the Palestinians, the emergence of a jihadi element—and those were exactly the people who did emerge, the people who took me.
Recent weeks have seen further fighting on the streets of Gaza. Do you see any grounds for hope? It is very difficult to make peace when there are such deep divisions in the Palestinian camp. It’s really important to hang on to one statistic. Even if Israel were to withdraw from every inch of the West Bank and Gaza, that would leave the Palestinians with just 22 percent of the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. Obviously, selling that to the Palestinian people is difficult.
Would you go back? Eventually, but it would be hard at the moment. If I am a little well known in London I am very well known in Gaza, and it would be difficult to do anything useful. I am afraid that I am too much the story.
