Israeli officials say they have no information concerning a report in a Swiss Jewish weekly that the Shi’ite fundamentalist group Hezbollah has turned over the bodies of two missing Israeli soldiers to a forensic laboratory in Vienna.
On Friday, Judische Rundschau reported that Hezbollah had transferred the remains of Rachamim Alsheikh and Yosef Fink to the University of Vienna, on condition they not be handed over to Israel until a number of Palestinian terrorists are freed.
Their reported demands included the release of Shi’ite cleric Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid.
But Hezbolfah has since denied the report, and Austrian government officials said they had no information about such a transfer.
Israel has accepted a report that Alsheikh is dead but said that reports concerning Fink are inconclusive and await further credible evidence.
In Jerusalem, Yossi Olmert, head of the Government Press Office, said there had been no change in recent days with regard to Israeli soldiers listed as missing in action.
“Israel has received no new information on the MIAs, including Yossi Fink and navigator Ron Arad.”
Arad, an air force navigator shot down over Lebanon in 1986, has been variously reported to be in Iranian hands or a captive of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Uri Lubrani, Israel’s chief prisoner-exchange negotiator, dismissed the recent rash of “disclosures” as a “wave of unfounded speculation.”
Lubrani said U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar is continuing his efforts. “In the meantime, we need patience and strong nerves.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
