Israel Matzav

Some details from Hezbullah's report on Ron Arad

Arutz Sheva reports some details on Hezbullah's report on Ron Arad that I have not seen elsewhere.

The document, written in Arabic, was transferred to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Saturday, in an apparent attempt to settle Israel’s doubts on the fate of Arad, long presumed, but never confirmed, to be dead.

After translation to Hebrew, the report was circulated to Israeli intelligence officials for review, with a discussion of the findings to be discussed at the Tuesday weekly cabinet meeting.

As experts from the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the international intelligence arm, the Mossad, analyze the document to determine its authenticity and accuracy, it is already being called “inconclusive” due to its lack of information on the whereabouts of Arad’s body.

The document is reported to contain maps showing the area where Arad was held prisoner and alleges that he died in a failed attempt to escape. It is supposedly based on ‘first-hand’ accounts of people who saw Arad about a year and a half after he was taken captive by the Lebanese Amal terrorist group who shot down his aircraft over southern Lebanon in 1986.

If all these details are known and he is dead, someone must know where the body is.

UPDATE 6:42 PM

Here are more details.

The family of IDF navigator Ron Arad has received two pictures of the missing airman which were not seen in Israel in the past and were never published before, as well as a personal diary.

The photos show Arad after he was captured by the Amal organization in Lebanon. In one of them he is seen with his hand hidden, indicating that he suffered an injury while in captivity.

The pictures were handed over to the family on Saturday evening along with a personal diary written by Arad while he was held by Amal after being captured on October 16, 1986. the diary contains notes addressed to his wife Tami and daughter Yuval.

Can anyone tell if that's Arabic or Persian in the picture? That would already tell us something.

Unfortunately, this part is a joke:

The report claims that Hizbullah has no accurate information on Arad's whereabouts, but that the Lebanese organization believes he is no longer alive. According to the detailed report delivered to Olmert, it appears that "there are no scientific and unequivocal conclusions as to the fate of Ron Arad."

State officials told Ynet that they believe the document would not suffice Israel's demands. They said the Israeli government would have to decide whether to continue with the prisoner exchange, despite the fact that the evidence Hizbullah was asked to deliver was not included in the report.

There's no way Israel is going to back out of this deal - much as I wish they would. Apparently Tami Arad's 'aguna' status - now 22 years old - matters less than Karnit Goldwasser's, even though the IDF Rabbinate would likely have a far easier time declaring Ehud Goldwasser dead (there is plenty of evidence) than it would declaring Ron Arad - who was known to be alive nearly two years after he was captured - dead.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:43 PM