The Israel Defense Forces is planning to declare the three missing soldiers of the 1982 Sultan Yaaqub battle as fallen soldiers whose burial place is unknown. This decision would put an end to official efforts to find the three - and their families responded sharply.
Twenty soldiers were killed, and six soldiers were left behind, in the debacle and defeat of the Sultan Yaaqub battle of the Peace for Galilee War in Lebanon. Two of the missing - Ariel Lieberman and Chezi Shai - were returned after being held as prisoners of war for two and three years, respectively, while a third, Zohar Lifshitz, was learned for certain only in October 1983 to have been killed in the battle. The whereabouts of the other three - Yehuda Katz, Tzvi Feldman and Zechariah Baumel - have not been ascertained to this day, though their families say they have received several signs of life over the years.
The family of Yehuda Katz has petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent the army's Chief Rabbinate from issuing the declaration. Yonah Baumel, father of Zechariah, says he has well-based information proving that his son is alive and being held in Syria. He has long said that the defense establishment has given less attention and efforts to his son's case than he would have deemed sufficient.
The army wished to declare the three as having been killed several months ago, but a court petition by the Katz family stopped this initiative. Various reports have been prepared over the years indicating, variously, that two or three of the soldiers are alive or dead. The most dramatic development occurred in 1994, when Yasser Arafat gave then-Prime Minister Rabin half of Zechariah Baumel's dog tag.
The Israeli government is in the midst of the second part of the prisoner/hostage exchange deal it began last month with Hizbullah. Israel exchanged, with the help of German mediators, hundreds of terrorist prisoners in return for Elchanan Tenenbaum and the bodies of three Hizbullah-abducted soldiers. The current stage involves the search for information on the missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad.
Twenty soldiers were killed, and six soldiers were left behind, in the debacle and defeat of the Sultan Yaaqub battle of the Peace for Galilee War in Lebanon. Two of the missing - Ariel Lieberman and Chezi Shai - were returned after being held as prisoners of war for two and three years, respectively, while a third, Zohar Lifshitz, was learned for certain only in October 1983 to have been killed in the battle. The whereabouts of the other three - Yehuda Katz, Tzvi Feldman and Zechariah Baumel - have not been ascertained to this day, though their families say they have received several signs of life over the years.
The family of Yehuda Katz has petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent the army's Chief Rabbinate from issuing the declaration. Yonah Baumel, father of Zechariah, says he has well-based information proving that his son is alive and being held in Syria. He has long said that the defense establishment has given less attention and efforts to his son's case than he would have deemed sufficient.
The army wished to declare the three as having been killed several months ago, but a court petition by the Katz family stopped this initiative. Various reports have been prepared over the years indicating, variously, that two or three of the soldiers are alive or dead. The most dramatic development occurred in 1994, when Yasser Arafat gave then-Prime Minister Rabin half of Zechariah Baumel's dog tag.
The Israeli government is in the midst of the second part of the prisoner/hostage exchange deal it began last month with Hizbullah. Israel exchanged, with the help of German mediators, hundreds of terrorist prisoners in return for Elchanan Tenenbaum and the bodies of three Hizbullah-abducted soldiers. The current stage involves the search for information on the missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad.