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Cliff Van Zandt said that back in the 1970s or 1980s, they had three types of kidnappers, criminals, 'crazies' or political groups. But in the last 10 years, kidnapping has become 'the cruise missile' of political groups against the world's largest powers.

Hatem lives in Gaza, and he called on the kidnappers to release the two journalists. They had come to tell the story of the Palestinians, he said. They are journalists, not people who have come to fight the Palestinians, he said.

We also talked to Dan Murphy, with the Christian Science Monitor, who worked tirelessly to free his colleague , who was abducted in Iraq.
She was living her dream of being a foreign correspondent. But her life descended into a horrible nightmare after she was abducted in Baghdad on 7 January this year. She was held for 82 days.

Dan said that there is not a one-size fits all solution. Jill was called a model captive by the US military, complying with their demands as possible to buy time. When you are in a captive situation, confrontation is not the way, he said. But the situation was difficult. She contemplated suicide at times, he said.

But Jill knew that her captors had killed hostages, and she had determined that if she felt that things were going that way, she would try to escape, Dan said. He and his colleagues also walked a fine line with mounting a public media campaign trying to humanise her. In the end, Jill's life was probably spared because her captors had killed other high profile women in the past and "taken a propaganda bath" because of it.

Although Dan didn't mention her by name, he was probably referring to , the director of CARE International in Iraq. Despite pleas from her Iraqi husband, her captors shot her in the head.

, spent a year captive by in Philippines. Her husband was a jungle pilot for a mission group.The fighters kept them on the run for a year from the military. Her husband was killed in gun battle that secured her release.

She wondered if she would ever see her family again. She prepared to "meet her maker". She tried to let their captives know that they were human, but they thought about trying to escape often.

Do what your told, but also personalise yourself, Thomas and Cliff said. Remind them of your humanity. In the worse case scenario, if they are trying to figure out if they are going to take action, they will have more difficulty is they see you as a person.

To negotiate or not to negotiate

Guido, an Italian journalist, told us about Italian tourists who had just been taken hostage in the Niger Delta. The Italian government tries to do whatever it can to secure the release of kidnapped citizens, but he said there has been no contact with the captors in Nigeria.

Cliff Van Zandt looked back to the Bible to prove that kidnapping is nothing new. Early in its history, the US paid what was equivalent to half of its treasury to secure the release of its sailors. He said it was an early lesson. But he said that negotiators had to deal with kidnappings on a case-by-case basis.

Gracia said that a ransom had been paid about a year after she and her husband were kidnapped. Her captors thought it wasn't enough. She said that rules don't apply to these groups.

Christopher in Port Harcourt said that the rash of abductions in the Niger Delta had to deal with inequalities in the distribution of wealth from the region's oil riches and also with pollution there. Groups also felt that the government was not representing them.

Nancy in Luton worked in Cambodia for an NGO in the early 1990s. She was kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge when they were kidnapping foreign workers. The NGOs agreed not to pay ransoms but instead offered to dig wells. She said that what was happening in Iraq right now felt a lot different.

Kiru in Jamaica sent us this text message:

A good rule of thumb for me is 'talking is always better than staying silent' So I think negotiations are always a positive step.

Political demands

Nancy felt very worried about the captured journalists in Gaza. A video was released of the . Olaf Wiig, 36, and Steve Centanni, 60, of US channel Fox News, were shown telling their families they were in "fairly good health".A fax from the "Holy Jihad Brigades" to news agencies demanded the US release "Muslim prisoners" within 72 hours.

Thomas said that political demands are made of governments, and he said that it was very difficult to accede to these demands. In many occasions, quiet negotiations happen in the background.