Copyright 1994 The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
October 28, 1994
HEADLINE: MIA'S PARENTS APPEAL TO FIRST LADY
BYLINE: Itim
BODY:
Yona and Miriam Baumel, parents of missing soldier Zecharia Baumel, yesterday presented Hillary Clinton with a silver copy of their son's military ID tag.
Half of the original metal disc had been given to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in December 1993. At the time, Arafat had promised to provide additional information on Baumel and the two soldiers listed as missing with him in the battle of Sultan Yakub, Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz. The battle took place in Lebanon on June 11, 1982.
"Half the dog-tag is half the story," Yona Baumel said. "We know that Arafat and [Syrian President Hafez] Assad have information about our son and the other MIAs. Receiving such information should be one of the conditions for holding future peace talks."
Explaining the presentation of the copy of his son's dog-tag to Clinton, Baumel said: "This dignified memento will remind her of the fact that there is still an American citizen being held captive in the Middle East. There can be no genuine peace until all our soldiers return home."
Zecharia Baumel holds joint American and Israeli citizenship.
The Baumels said they appealed to Hillary Clinton as a mother and hope she will use her influence with the president to get him to act on the missing soldiers' behalf.
A second dog-tag was also presented to the wife of the president, engraved with the names of all six MIAs: Rahamim Elsheikh, Yosef Fink, Zecharia Baumel, Zvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz, and Ron Arad.