***UPDATE 8/22/06 - BLOGBURST INFO BELOW***

I’m very, very worried about Steve and Olaf. I’m nervous, and I’m scared. There’s a lot going around about August 22nd. I’ve also heard that Muslims don’t adhere to or care about “anniversary” dates like Americans do, but it doesn’t make me less nervous. Honestly I’m very scared for Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, who were abducted at gunpoint on Monday, August 14th, by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza City - allegedly “lone” gunmen, not affiliated with any terrorist organization.

Uh-huh. Like that makes me feel any more comfortable. Steve’s family is speaking out:

GINA CENTANNI — “We deeply believe that all human beings share a common longing for peace. Even when we are driven by desperation or fear or rage, the most authentic part of any human being is our ability to access our humanity. Remember how to love and how to tolerate and understand.

Nobody believes this more than Steve. So, in that sense, he’s our brother but he is your brother too. And to Steve we want to say that we love you and that we’re thinking about you every minute of every day. We’re feeling lots of emotions right now but the one thing we’re not feeling is despair. You are a man of courage, compassion, integrity and hope. We’ve taken comfort in the absolute knowledge that if anybody can hang in there in a situation like this, you can. We feel sure that you’re going to be OK. See you soon.”

KEN CENTANNI — “Our brother, Steve Centanni, was kidnapped on August 14th, last Monday. I would like his captors to know that Steve is an honorable man who always tries to do what is right. Steve has strong respect for the Palestinian people and their culture. Steve was in Gaza with Olaf Wiig to report the truth. He is far more valuable to the Palestinian people free as a journalist than as a captive. We love Steve very much and now his health, his safety and his life is your responsibility. Please, contact our family. Let us know that he is alive and unharmed.”

Today Fox News is reporting that Palestinian journalists are protesting , demanding the release of Steve and Olaf, and both families have put out video pleas to release both hostages unharmed. Jennifer Griffen, Fox’s chief correspondent in Israel, is working in the country to secure their release:

About 30 members of the Palestinian Journalists’ Union gathered outside the parliamentary building in Gaza, holding up signs demanding the men be freed. Other signs called for security in Gaza, where armed men wander the streets freely.

Jennifer Griffen, chief FOX News correspondent for the Middle East, called the kidnapping a “test for the Palestinian people.”

“We don’t care who kidnapped them, we want them returned unharmed. This is a very serious case for the Palestinians, for the Palestinian Authority,” Griffen said.

It just gets more heartbreaking:

Wiig’s wife, Anita McNaught, appealed to the kidnappers to free her husband and Centanni.

“The bottom line is, there is no good reason for these two men to be held,” said McNaught, a freelance television journalist. “They are friends of the Palestinians. They are here telling the Palestinian story for weeks now, when the rest of the world’s media has not been here.”

Directing her words to her husband in the on-camera interview and choking back tears, McNaught said: “It’s going to be all right. You are going to come home to me.”

My heart aches so very badly about next Tuesday the 22nd. Images & videos of Pfcs. Tucker & Menchaca come to mind, and I hate it very much. Please, dear God, free these men from the hell they must be in right now. Please don’t let that maniac in Iran rule that day. All of the leading terror groups in Gaza (Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and others) say they don’t have them - that’s why it scares me so bad. I have a sick feeling this is going to be some symbolic, sadistic thing for some Islamofascist beast - and that we’ll see it on the 23rd. This time span is not good. It normally doesn’t take this long when they take journalists. Dear Lord, protect both of these men, and bring them home to their families - and back to us.

Watch the update from Greta & Shep from Friday night here.

And watch a very fitting tribute and moment of silence with Julie Banderas in an update from the Big Story on Saturday night here.

Michelle Malkin & AllahPundit at HotAir are, as usual, on this case, too.

***UPDATE 8/22/06*** Michelle Malkin is making a plea for us to make sure Steve and Olaf stay strong in our minds, as much of the rest of the media (maybe for their reasons) seem to think no news is good news. I, like Michelle, believe that IS news! Michelle’s started a blogburst today for just such a reason. May God protect these men, and I pray for their release unharmed soon. Blogburst here.

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