As the country prepares to greet Elchanan Tenenbaum - probably with a police investigation - and bury the three soldiers killed by Hizbullah over three years ago on the Lebanese border, many questions about the upcoming prisoner/hostage deal still remain unanswered. Most of them concern long-missing navigator Ron Arad and other Israeli captives.
Preparations are well underway for the upcoming exchange, which will probably take place this Thursday. The bodies of Hizbullah terrorists killed in the war in southern Lebanon are being dug up from their northern-Israel graves - in a designated cemetery for enemy corpses - in anticipation of their return to Lebanon. In addition, the names of the 400 PA terrorists to be freed from Israeli prison are being readied; they must all be without "blood on their hands" and have fewer than three years remaining in their prison sentences. The list will be publicized on the Israel Prison Service internet site by this evening, so that terror victims can protest the release of specific terrorists, and President Moshe Katzav, too, must review the names in order to pardon them. His aides say that he will not be a "rubber stamp" to automatically pardon all the names provided him. Those who are disqualified will be replaced by others. Some 2,000 PA terrorist prisoners are currently in Israeli jails.
The 400 will be bused to Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and will be let go after they sign a promise not to engage in further terrorism. The other 35 terrorists, from Lebanon and other countries, will be flown to Germany. The bodies of the 59 dead terrorists will be transported to Lebanon on Friday at the Rosh HaNikra border crossing on Israel's northwestern corner.
In Munich, Germany, Tenenbaum and the three bodies will be given over to Israeli custody. Tenenbaum will be allowed to meet with his family either at Ben Gurion International Airport or in Munich, after which time he will be taken immediately for Shabak (General Security Service) questioning. Although hostages are generally debriefed in this manner, Tenenbaum will also be asked about the possibly criminal aspects of the business trip to Arab countries that ended in his abduction, his ties with Israeli-Arabs who apparently enticed him to go, and what information, if any, he was forced to give over to his abductors. It will be recalled that Tenenbaum is an IDF reserves officer with the rank of Colonel.
The three soldiers' bodies will be identified in Germany, and will then be buried separately in full military funerals in their hometowns.
Sheikh Nasrallah, leader of the Hizbullah terrorist organization whose prestige rises greatly with this deal, acknowledged yesterday that he had hoped to receive more than 400 prisoners in the deal. In an answer to a reporter's question, he said yes, there would be further kidnappings of Israelis. Nasrallah also implied that Ron Arad is being held in Lebanon, and not in Iran as is widely thought. "There are other Israelis being held in Lebanon," he said, explaining that there will be a "second stage" of the deal involving Arad and additional PA terrorist-prisoners.
The Israeli Prison Service is on high alert, preparing for all eventualities as the day of the release of the Arab prisoners nears. Eventualities being taken into account include rioting by the prisoners who are not being released, attempted mass escape, and a possible attempt to kidnap a prison guard and take him hostage.
Ron Arad's family said that it was Ron's mother's wish, before she died, that if her son is found to be dead, no demands be made for the return of his body if this would involve the release of Palestinian terrorists. The family said that they would respect this wish, if it becomes necessary. Analysts appear to be united in opining that prospects for receiving solid information on Ron Arad, and possibly even his return, are better than ever.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said this morning that there are some developments regarding the Israeli-Druze citizen imprisoned in Egypt for over seven years on charges of espionage, Azzam Azzam. He did not want to elaborate, and said only that Likud MK Majali Wahabe met yesterday in Egypt with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleimon on the topic. Israel has always vigorously denied that Azzam is an Israeli agent.
Nothing was reported on Israel's other captives in foreign countries: Yehuda Katz, Tzvi Feldman, Zechariah Baumel, Guy Hever, and Jonathan Pollard.
Yehudit Shachor of the Almagor Terror Victims Association told Arutz-7 today, "We will check the list, in order to make sure that there are none with blood on their hands. In the previous exchange, we checked and found that three of them were murderers, and we blocked their release... Even if they're not murderers, we still object to the release of terrorists. [Hizbullah leader] Nasrallah even said yesterday that he will continue to abduct soldiers - yet we continue to release terrorists; we don't learn the lesson." She said that the 1,300 terrorists released in the Jibril deal of 1985 "are the nucleus of the current [Oslo War]."
Preparations are well underway for the upcoming exchange, which will probably take place this Thursday. The bodies of Hizbullah terrorists killed in the war in southern Lebanon are being dug up from their northern-Israel graves - in a designated cemetery for enemy corpses - in anticipation of their return to Lebanon. In addition, the names of the 400 PA terrorists to be freed from Israeli prison are being readied; they must all be without "blood on their hands" and have fewer than three years remaining in their prison sentences. The list will be publicized on the Israel Prison Service internet site by this evening, so that terror victims can protest the release of specific terrorists, and President Moshe Katzav, too, must review the names in order to pardon them. His aides say that he will not be a "rubber stamp" to automatically pardon all the names provided him. Those who are disqualified will be replaced by others. Some 2,000 PA terrorist prisoners are currently in Israeli jails.
The 400 will be bused to Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and will be let go after they sign a promise not to engage in further terrorism. The other 35 terrorists, from Lebanon and other countries, will be flown to Germany. The bodies of the 59 dead terrorists will be transported to Lebanon on Friday at the Rosh HaNikra border crossing on Israel's northwestern corner.
In Munich, Germany, Tenenbaum and the three bodies will be given over to Israeli custody. Tenenbaum will be allowed to meet with his family either at Ben Gurion International Airport or in Munich, after which time he will be taken immediately for Shabak (General Security Service) questioning. Although hostages are generally debriefed in this manner, Tenenbaum will also be asked about the possibly criminal aspects of the business trip to Arab countries that ended in his abduction, his ties with Israeli-Arabs who apparently enticed him to go, and what information, if any, he was forced to give over to his abductors. It will be recalled that Tenenbaum is an IDF reserves officer with the rank of Colonel.
The three soldiers' bodies will be identified in Germany, and will then be buried separately in full military funerals in their hometowns.
Sheikh Nasrallah, leader of the Hizbullah terrorist organization whose prestige rises greatly with this deal, acknowledged yesterday that he had hoped to receive more than 400 prisoners in the deal. In an answer to a reporter's question, he said yes, there would be further kidnappings of Israelis. Nasrallah also implied that Ron Arad is being held in Lebanon, and not in Iran as is widely thought. "There are other Israelis being held in Lebanon," he said, explaining that there will be a "second stage" of the deal involving Arad and additional PA terrorist-prisoners.
The Israeli Prison Service is on high alert, preparing for all eventualities as the day of the release of the Arab prisoners nears. Eventualities being taken into account include rioting by the prisoners who are not being released, attempted mass escape, and a possible attempt to kidnap a prison guard and take him hostage.
Ron Arad's family said that it was Ron's mother's wish, before she died, that if her son is found to be dead, no demands be made for the return of his body if this would involve the release of Palestinian terrorists. The family said that they would respect this wish, if it becomes necessary. Analysts appear to be united in opining that prospects for receiving solid information on Ron Arad, and possibly even his return, are better than ever.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said this morning that there are some developments regarding the Israeli-Druze citizen imprisoned in Egypt for over seven years on charges of espionage, Azzam Azzam. He did not want to elaborate, and said only that Likud MK Majali Wahabe met yesterday in Egypt with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleimon on the topic. Israel has always vigorously denied that Azzam is an Israeli agent.
Nothing was reported on Israel's other captives in foreign countries: Yehuda Katz, Tzvi Feldman, Zechariah Baumel, Guy Hever, and Jonathan Pollard.
Yehudit Shachor of the Almagor Terror Victims Association told Arutz-7 today, "We will check the list, in order to make sure that there are none with blood on their hands. In the previous exchange, we checked and found that three of them were murderers, and we blocked their release... Even if they're not murderers, we still object to the release of terrorists. [Hizbullah leader] Nasrallah even said yesterday that he will continue to abduct soldiers - yet we continue to release terrorists; we don't learn the lesson." She said that the 1,300 terrorists released in the Jibril deal of 1985 "are the nucleus of the current [Oslo War]."