Palestine A kidnapped French journalist who had been held for a week yesterday was released, apparently physically unharmed.
Mohamed Ouathi, a sound technician with French television channel 3, was kidnapped a week ago from outside a hotel in Gaza City.

While details of the identity of the kidnappers and why Ouathi was held remain unclear, some reports are suggesting that the Popular Resistance Committees were responsible.
The Committees organized a press conference recently to publicly deny their involvement and others are suggesting that the culprits are the Eissa family, which has been involved in a high profile and on-going disagreement with the Palestinian Authority.

Earlier in the day, three Palestinian factions pledged to help the search for Ouathi.
In a press release, they asserted their condemnation of the kidnapping, which they described as criminal.
Israel Confirming the fears of many Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel pledged yesterday to continue settlement building in the West Bank.
Sharon specifically announced his intention to continue expanding the settlement of Ma,ale Adumim until it is “connected with Jerusalem.
�
Sharon made the comments, even as Israel requests $2.
2 billion of aid from the U.
S.
Settlement expansion is expressly prohibited under the terms of the Roadmap peace plan, which is sponsored by the Quartet of which the U.
S.
is a member.

Sharon reiterated his previous insistence that “there will be no second disengagement,� and said he believed that while the settlement project had failed in Gaza it could and would succeed in the West Bank