Copyright 2001 Ha'aretz
October 8, 2001
To All People of Conscience
Amos Oz
The release of the abducted Israelis must be demanded from all sides
A little over a year ago, three
Israeli soldiers - Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Suad - were
abducted by members of the Hezbollah and dragged into Lebanese
territory. Soldiers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL), who are stationed in southern Lebanon in order to maintain
quiet and security, were perhaps witnesses to the kidnapping, and in
any case closely witnessed its results, but they did not see fit to
intervene. Another Israeli citizen, Elhanan Tanenbaum, was abducted
at almost the same time in unclear circumstances and he too is being
held hostage by the Hezbollah, the leader of which has boasted that
he would not allow their families to receive even one sign of life
from their loved ones.
Since the day they were kidnapped,
the abducted men have been held at an unknown location and in
conditions the nature of which can only be guessed. The Hezbollah is
not allowing representatives of the International Red Cross to visit
them, is not prepared to allow the delivery of a single letter, not
even a brief note, from the abducted men to their families or from
family members to them. There is no way of knowing what their
situation is and what they are going through.
The only sign
of life since the abduction of the three soldiers has been the
spilled blood of one of them, or the spilled blood of more than one
of them, that was found on the side of the vehicle from which they
were abducted. Was one of them wounded? Were all of them wounded?
Light wounds or, heaven forbid, serious wounds? Has proper medical
treatment been given to the wounded man or the wounded men?
To all this the Shi'ite organization relates as if they were
bargaining chips, for each of which it is trying to exact from
Israel a price in concessions and humiliation. The details of
indirect contacts with the Hezbollah, if there are any such
contacts, are being kept secret even from the families of the
abducted men. But even without knowing what exactly they are
demanding and what Israel is prepared to pay, it may be said with
certainty that the torture both of the men and of their families is
inhuman and goes way beyond the rules of warfare, even the crudest
ones that enemies observe to the death; it goes beyond even the
accepted rules of behavior in gang warfare or the criminal world;
criminal kidnappers always see to it that the relatives of the
victims are provided with clear and convincing proof that their dear
ones are alive.
The Middle East is no rose garden. The
sufferings of the Palestinian people under the yoke of the Israeli
occupation, the suffering of Israeli and other victims of terror,
and the horror and violence that is spreading through the entire
world - all these could harden hearts and lead people to say: "In
war as in war." But keeping any sign of life from the families, the
prohibition of even any third party visit to the abducted men, the
cruel use of the suffering of the families who are stumbling through
the fog in a hell of not knowing - all these are not "as in war."
The behavior of Hezbollah members deviates from the area of the
reality of war into the area of sadism.
People like myself,
who have been struggling for over 30 years for a just peace, for an
end to the occupation and for the recognition of the national rights
of the Palestinian people, are worthy of having their voices heard
by public opinion everywhere even as they raise their voices to
plead with them to put an end to this horror.
It is no
longer enough for one European government or another to volunteer to
mediate; it is not enough that here and there someone issues a
flabby statement of condemnation. There is now a need for every
person of conscience and heart to raise his voice and demand of the
government of Lebanon and of the government of Syria, in the shadow
of which the Hezbollah organization is flourishing, and of the
government of Iran that nurtures and sustains this organization, as
well as from the UN, which is trying to tread carefully between the
raindrops so as to hurt neither those who are being cruel nor those
who are the victims of the cruelty: Release the abducted Israelis
immediately - or at least apply to them the most basic rules of war
morality: a sign of life, a letter, a visit, a medical examination
by an independent party.
Anyone who maintains silence about
the brutal trampling of these basic rules is himself like a partner
to the kidnappers' cruelty. Remain silent no longer!
Amos Oz
is an author.
A.B. Yehoshua and David Grossman have appended their
signatures to this text.