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Israel Denies PLO Report on Pow Exchange Agreement

February 28, 1983
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Israel has denied a report by the Palestine Liberation Organization that an agreement has been reached on an exchange of eight Israeli soldiers held by El Fatah for 800 of the 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in the Ansar refugee camp in south Lebanon.

Gen. Moshe Nativ, head of the Israel army’s manpower branch, said Friday that there was no agreement but that negotiations were still in progress. The claim of an agreement, made by El Fatah commander Abu Jihad, was confirmed, however, by the Intentional Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva Friday.

According to an ICRC spokesman there, a prisoner exchange will take place shortly but “only when the agreement between Israel and the PLO will be confirmed.”

In addition to the eight soldiers held by El Fatah, two Israeli soldiers are prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command headed by Ahmed Jabreel, and three are held by the Syrians.

ICRC VISITS SIX ISRAEL POWS

The ICRC said in Geneva that six of the eight Israelis held by the PLO have been visited by its representatives but not the two held by the Jabreel group, although the Red Cross is seeking permission to see them. The ICRC also said that in the event of an agreement between Israel and the PLO … the Red Cross would be in charge of the technical details of the transfer, such as the list of names and the methods of carrying out the exchange. According to the ICRC, two parallel channels are being used in the exchange operation, on Austrian channel and the Red Cross in Geneva. The Austrians, at the request of families of the Palestinian prisoners,”have been mediating between the PLO and the Israelis,” the ICRC said.

An ICRC spokesman said that it has been contacted only the Palestinians and that if an agreement is reached, it would take some time to implement.

APPEAL BY THE MOTHER OF A POW

Meanwhile, the mother of Yosef Groffe, one of the two Israeli soldiers held by the Jabreel group made a public appeal in an East Jerusalem Arabic newspaper Friday for the release of her son. She asked that at least the Red Cross be allowed to visit him and confirm to her that he is alive and well.

Jabreel was quoted on the Jordan Radio’s Hebrew broadcast as willing to allow the mothers of the two Israeli prisoners to visit them. But no reply has been received to requests transmitted to Beirut for details of the arrangement.

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