ISRAEL WILLING TO SWAP PRISONERS BUT WON'T ABANDON ITS OWN

August 11, 1991

HEADLINE: ISRAEL WILLING TO SWAP PRISONERS BUT WON'T ABANDON ITS OWN

BYLINE: By Marjorie Olster

DATELINE: JERUSALEM, Aug 11

BODY:
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said on Sunday Israel would be prepared to discuss freeing Arab prisoners in an all-round swap once it received evidence of the fate of seven Israeli servicemen missing in Lebanon.

"No one can ask Israel to make any steps without receiving in return its prisoners and missing," Shamir was quoted as saying by his office in a meeting with visiting members of the U.S. Congress.

"We want to receive signs of life from them and then we will be prepared to enter into discussions about mutual releases."

Shamir was speaking hours after the release of the third Western hostage in Lebanon in four days, American Edward Tracy.

The Israeli Defence Ministry earlier rushed out a public appeal to Iran, Syria and groups believed to be holding the captured Israelis.

"Israel again appeals to all the countries, headed by Iran and Syria, and to all the organisations holding captive and missing Israelis, to permit an approach to them or show evidence of them," the defence ministry statement said.

Defence Minister Moshe Arens, asked if Israel might release Arab prisoners before it receives a clear sign about its missing men, told reporters in Tel Aviv: "If what you are suggesting is that we abandon the Israeli hostages, then the answer is no.

"We have here no doubt a transparent attempt to try to bring about pressure on Israel so that the terrorists that we have in prison here will be released without the Israeli captives being released."

Israel and its militia allies in south Lebanon hold nearly 400 prisoners taken in Lebanon whose release has been sought by Lebanese kidnappers of Westerners.

U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar met freed British hostage John McCarthy in England on Sunday and received a letter from McCarthy's captors which had been widely believed to call for freeing Arabs held by Israel in exchange for the 10 remaining Western hostages.

Perez de Cuellar said in Geneva the letter was "important" but contained no precise details of a possible deal.

U.S. President George Bush praised Syria and Iran for their roles in the release of hostages and suggested Israel and others in the region release "innocents" held for political purposes.

Britain and the sister of American Terry Anderson, the longest-held Western hostage in Lebanon, have asked Israel to free prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Lebanese fundamentalists believed to be holding the hostages and the Israeli soldiers.

Israel is no stranger to spectacular prisoner swaps. The Jewish state has always placed great stress on getting its missing men back, especially since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

It exchanged 1,150 Palestinian and Lebanese captives for three Israeli soldiers held by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in May 1985.

Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Western governments should direct pressure at Iran and Syria which he said supported the Hizbollah (Party of God) and Islamic Jihad (Holy War) groups holding hostages.

The pro-Iranian Hizbollah denies holding hostages but it is the dominant force in the Shi'ite underground which includes kidnap groups.

Of the seven Israelis still missing, Samir Assad, a Druze Arab, is believed to be dead. Nothing is known of Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman, who disappeared during a tank battle in the 1982 invasion.

Two soldiers, Yossi Fink and Rachamim Al Sheikh, were believed captured by Hizbollah in a 1986 guerrilla raid. Air force navigator Ron Arad, downed in 1986, is also thought to be in Hizbollah's hands.

The Defence Ministry's statement said: "Israel welcomes the release of the additional hostage.

"Israel again appeals to all the countries headed by Iran and Syria, and to all the organisations holding captive and missing Israelis, to permit an approach to them or show evidence of them.

"This will enable negotiations for the release of all the hostages including captured and missing Israeli soldiers...

"In the framework of these negotiations, Israel will be ready to make its contribution and to free Lebanese prisoners it holds."

Britain and the sister of Terry Anderson, the longest-held Western hostage in Lebanon, have asked Israel to free prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Lebanese fundamentalists believed to be holding other Westerners and the Israeli soldiers.

Peggy Say, sister of Anderson, an American journalist, urged Israel to free its best-known captive, Moslem Shi'ite leader Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid. Israeli helicopter-borne commandos seized Obeid from southern Lebanon in July 1989.

Israel is no stranger to spectacular prisoner swaps. The Jewish state has always placed great stress on getting its missing men back -- especially since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

It exchanged 1,150 Palestinian and Lebanese captives for three Israeli soldiers held by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in May 1985.

"If they want the release of those Lebanese held by us, there is one price they will have to pay -- the release of our people and our missing."

The pro-Iranian Hizbollah denies holding hostages but it is the dominant force in the Shi'ite underground which includes kidnap groups.

Of the seven Israelis still missing, Samir Assad, a Druze Arab, is believed to be dead.

Nothing is known of Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman, who disappeared during a tank battle in the 1982 invasion.

Israel's policy chief for Lebanon, Uri Lubrani, says it holds a few score prisoners on Israeli soil. The remaining 300 are held at Khiam prison in Israel's self-declared security zone in South Lebanon. The jailers are the South Lebanon Army, a mainly Christian militia trained and financed by Israel.

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