Copyright 2003 Haaretz
September 3
HEADLINE: Committee says no reason to assume MIA Arad is not alive
BYLINE: Amos Harel
A special committee appointed last year to review
the case of missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron
Arad has determined that there is no available
information that can refute the defense
establishment's working assumption that Arad is
still alive, Channel One reported last night.
The committee, headed by retired
judge Eliahu Vinograd,
recommends implementing actions
that will assist in resolving
Arad's fate. The team,
appointed by Shaul Mofaz when
he was Israel Defense Forces
chief of staff, reviewed
thousands of documents
collected in the 17 years since
Arad's plane went down over Lebanon. Three
weeks ago, it presented a report to Chief of
Staff Moshe Ya'alon, and it is currently being
studied by intelligence experts.
The team concluded its investigation as a
prisoner exchange deal is apparently being
negotiated between Israel and Hezbollah.
According to media reports, Arad is not part of
the deal which will likely include the return
of two Lebanese prisoners, Mustafa Dirani and
Sheikh Obeid. In the possible exchange, Israel
hopes to receive businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum
and three IDF soldiers who were kidnapped along
the Israel-Lebanon border in October 2001.
Military sources said that publication of the
report might complicate the deal being brokered
by a German moderator.
Arad was captured by the Amal militia in October
1986 after his plane went down over southern
Lebanon due to a technical malfunction. He was
later transferred to Hezbollah and was also
likely to have been in the hands of Iranian
authorities.