It was reported last night that Israeli authorities had revealed "earlier this week" their conclusion that the bone sample provided Israel by Hizbullah did not belong to Ron Arad.
Missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad was captured when his plane was felled over Lebanon in 1986, and has not been heard from since.
Hizbullah reported almost a month ago that it had found a grave containing Arad's remains. Hizbullah, according to the reports, then transferred the sample to Israel for DNA testing via a German mediator. The Lebanese terrorist organization was hoping to thus fulfill its part of the ongoing prisoner exchange deal that began with the trade of hundreds of Arab prisoners for Elchanan Tenenbaum and three dead Israeli soldiers. In the next stage, Israel is to repatriate terrorist murderer Samir Kuntar to Lebanon once it receives new information on Ron Arad.
Egyptian reports of yesterday claimed that a deal to free Israeli Druze Azzam Azzam - imprisoned for over seven years in Egypt on charges of spying for Israel - was in the works, in exchange for Kuntar. These reports were later denied by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who made an official visit to Cairo yesterday.
Missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad was captured when his plane was felled over Lebanon in 1986, and has not been heard from since.
Hizbullah reported almost a month ago that it had found a grave containing Arad's remains. Hizbullah, according to the reports, then transferred the sample to Israel for DNA testing via a German mediator. The Lebanese terrorist organization was hoping to thus fulfill its part of the ongoing prisoner exchange deal that began with the trade of hundreds of Arab prisoners for Elchanan Tenenbaum and three dead Israeli soldiers. In the next stage, Israel is to repatriate terrorist murderer Samir Kuntar to Lebanon once it receives new information on Ron Arad.
Egyptian reports of yesterday claimed that a deal to free Israeli Druze Azzam Azzam - imprisoned for over seven years in Egypt on charges of spying for Israel - was in the works, in exchange for Kuntar. These reports were later denied by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who made an official visit to Cairo yesterday.