Ron Arad
I’m not sure this is would be a subject for agreement, but I believe this should be a subject for discussion:
As described here: “On October 16 1986, The Israeli air force navigator, Captain Ron Arad, bailed out of his plane on a mission in Lebanon and was captured by members of the Iranian-backed Shiite group, Amal. Since then, Ron has been held captive by a variety of factions and groups, all of them extremist Shiite groups, backed by Iran.”
Ron Arad was captured over the land of Lebanon, and should be handled as a POW (Prisoner of War) but ever since 1987 there was no contact with him, the Red Cross was not allowed to see him, and basically, he was “removed from the face of Earth”.
It is believed that Ron Arad is now held in Iran, taken there by the Shiite groups who operated, and still do, In Lebanon.
I take as an assumption that as part of a full-scale peace treaty between Lebanon and Israel, there would be massive releasing of Lebanese currently held by Israel.
I know this would be hard to perform, as IT IS hard to believe Iran would cooperate with such an act, but I believe that Lebanon – as the country who captured Arad and gave him away to the terrorist groups in Iran – should act, or at least make an attempt, to free Ron Arad.
And by the way, just in case you were wandering why Israel doesn’t like making agreements with Hezbollah, check the 2003 agreement, which included a commitment by Hezbollah to get information about Ron Arad. Years go by, and Israel is still waiting…
Just a thought…
Tags: Peace, War, Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Ron Arad, רון ארד
I’m not sure this is would be a subject for agreement, but I believe this should be a subject for discussion:
As described here: “On October 16 1986, The Israeli air force navigator, Captain Ron Arad, bailed out of his plane on a mission in Lebanon and was captured by members of the Iranian-backed Shiite group, Amal. Since then, Ron has been held captive by a variety of factions and groups, all of them extremist Shiite groups, backed by Iran.”
Ron Arad was captured over the land of Lebanon, and should be handled as a POW (Prisoner of War) but ever since 1987 there was no contact with him, the Red Cross was not allowed to see him, and basically, he was “removed from the face of Earth”.
It is believed that Ron Arad is now held in Iran, taken there by the Shiite groups who operated, and still do, In Lebanon.
I take as an assumption that as part of a full-scale peace treaty between Lebanon and Israel, there would be massive releasing of Lebanese currently held by Israel.
I know this would be hard to perform, as IT IS hard to believe Iran would cooperate with such an act, but I believe that Lebanon – as the country who captured Arad and gave him away to the terrorist groups in Iran – should act, or at least make an attempt, to free Ron Arad.
And by the way, just in case you were wandering why Israel doesn’t like making agreements with Hezbollah, check the 2003 agreement, which included a commitment by Hezbollah to get information about Ron Arad. Years go by, and Israel is still waiting…
Just a thought…
Tags: Peace, War, Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Ron Arad, רון ארד
posted by Ofernicus at 10:12 AM
10 Comments:
Israel and Hizbullah have reached a deal brokered by Germany for a prisoner exchange to take place within two or three weeks! (Source: Al Ahram)
"The prisoner swap between Hizbullah and Israel is to take place within two or three weeks maximum, thanks to a German mediation which is currently arranging the details of the exchange," the paper said, citing high-ranking officials.
According to the newspaper, the swap could take place simultaneously or in two stages.
In the second scenario, the group would hand over the two Israeli soldiers captured on July 12 after "receiving strong guarantees from the German mediator that Lebanese prisoners would be released the next day or the day after."
> Hezobllah have been calling for the swap all long, Israel And Lebanon could have easily done without the 34-day war which cost the lives of nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in Lebanon, as well as 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
Yozef,
I just red the same headline on an Israeli site, and am very pleased to hear that.
I have to disagree, though, with your last paragraph, that says that "Israel And Lebanon could have easily done without the 34-day war...".
There was a reason I mentioned, in the post, the agreement from 2003. The reason is that many Israelies feared at the time, and were proven to be right, that such agreements would only encourage the Hezbollah to kidnap more Israelies, thinking that for every kidnapped Israeli, Hezbollah can gain more power, and can raise more claims or demands from Israel.
This, I believe, will no longer be true, after Hassan Nasrallah just admitted on the Lebanese TV station NewTV (this afternoon) that had he known that the kidnapping would force Israel into a full-scale war, the kidnapping would not have been performed.
Bottom line is that I agree that Israel And Lebanon could have easily done without the 34-day war, but the way to prevent the war was preventing the kidnapping in the first place.
Do you beleive that Israel would have given back the Lebanese soldiers without Hizbullah capturing Israeli soldiers as a means for trade?
http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=944wmv&ak=null
You can skip the first two minutes.
The link dosen't work... try this:
http://tinyurl.com/q7byu
Yozef, can you please provide the source in Al Ahram? In the article I saw they only mentioned releasing 15 Lebanese, while Hezbollah speaks of hundreds...?
If this is true, and only 15 are released, then Hezbollah achieved no "real goal" by kidnapping the Israeli soldiers, and brought only death and destruction on the entire region.
If Hezbollah is disarmed or neutralized and a peace treaty is signed, then all prisoners can be released. Until the day comes this will not happen, and any violant attempts by terrorist groups will only delay that from happening.
Future potential Lebanese presidential candidate promote peace with Israel.
It's in French though:
http://tinyurl.com/pxl5o
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
As for the Lebanese in Israeli prison are only 3. Three Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails: Samir Qantar, Nassim Nisr and a third, Yehya Skaff - whom Israel denies is being held.
A left-wing Israeli MP said Monday that she "by chance" bumped into Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt in France. Jumblatt used the encounter to make very trenchant remarks about Syrian President Bashar Assad, MP Colette Avital, a member of Israel's center-left Labor Party, told Army Radio.
Jumblatt said that he "would personally work with all his power to terminate any Syrian influence in Lebanon," he added.
I'm glad there are being talks between Lebanon and Israel.
Well, I'm suprised, because Hezbollah kept talking about hundreds of prisoners.
Anyway, as for Samir Qantar, he was part of the "deal" from 2003. He was supposed to be released in exchange for information about Ron Arad - information Hezbollah never provided...
Post a Comment
<< Home