U.S. Hostage to Be Freed : Islamic Jihad Promises to Release Professor in 48 Hrs. : Washington Response Demanded

Kidnapers holding three American professors said today that they will release one within 48 hours as a goodwill gesture and that the freed hostage will carry a message for President Bush.

The Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine also threatened to “escalate” its actions unless the release is followed by an unspecified reciprocal response by the United States.

The group demanded that U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, John Kelly, fly to the Syrian capital, Damascus, within the same period.

“The arrangements for the release should be accomplished by the arrival of John Kelly in Damascus to coordinate some final steps to guarantee success within 48 hours,” the handwritten statement said. Kelly is a former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon.

In Washington, a White House official said: “We’ve seen the reports. We’re not commenting on them.”

“Of course, we would welcome the release. Beyond that, we don’t think it would be useful to speculate on anything,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.

The State Department said it had no immediate comment, and a spokesman refused to discuss Kelly’s whereabouts when asked if he would travel to Syria.

The kidnapers’ statement was delivered to the independent Beirut newspaper An Nahar and a Western news agency in Beirut along with an instant picture of kidnaped educator Jesse Turner, one of 18 Western hostages held in Lebanon.

Turner, 42, was abducted along with professors Alann Steen, 50, and Robert Polhill, 55, from the campus of the U.S.-affiliated Beirut University College by gunmen posing as riot police on Jan. 24, 1987.

The Arabic-language statement did not say which of the three would be freed. It came four days before Steen marks his fourth birthday in captivity.

A fourth professor kidnaped with them, Indian Mithileshwar Singh, was freed Oct. 3, 1988. He held an American residence permit.

Turner’s mother, Estelle Ronnenburg of Boise, Idaho, told The Associated Press today that she had spoken with U.S. government officials.

“I do feel full of hope, but I talked to the State Department and they told me that they are checking things out and not to let myself get too worked up because we have had rumors like this before that have not worked out so we want to be sure it’s going to work out before we get too hopeful.”

The kidnapers’ statement said the decision to release a U.S. hostage came in response to behests from Iran and Syria, adding:

“We want the humanitarian move to be balanced between both sides. This is a condition to move forward. Otherwise, there is no meaning for a one-sided movement.

“We have responded to the behests, hoping to reach a solution as proposed and on the basis of the verbal message that will be conveyed to President Bush. We are ready to reciprocate or escalate. The other side has to choose.”