Syria and various terrorist organizations operating in Lebanon have given no information on the fate of three Israel Defense Force soldiers missing for five years, and Israel holds Damascus responsible for their welfare. So said Maj. Gen Natan Vilnay, head of the IDF’s manpower branch, at a press conference Tuesday.
Vilnay was seated with the parents of two of the missing soldiers–Zecharya Baumel and Zvi Feldman. Both tankmen, they were captured in the battle of Sultan Yaacub in Lebanon on June 11, 1982. They were believed to have been taken prisoner by Syrian troops or Syrian-backed terrorists. Three other IDF soldiers missing at the same time have been accounted for. Two, Arik Lieberman and Hezi Shai, were taken prisoner and returned to Israel in prisoner exchanges. The third, Zohar Lifschitz, was killed. His body was subsequently recovered.
Yona Baumel and his wife Miriam, immigrants from the U.S., are residents of Jerusalem. He said they have “travelled close to 100,000 miles on four continents” in their efforts to get information on the fate of their son.
He said eye-witness reports since Zecharya’s capture indicate he is alive. “Today we are firmly convince these soldiers are under Syrian control,” he said, even though Syrian President Hafez Assad denied any knowledge of the Israelis when he met with former President Jimmy Carter in Damascus several months ago.
Miriam Baumel said she met three weeks ago with Sen. Claiborne Pell (D. R.I.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She said Pell expressed concern and sent a letter on the subject to Secretary of State George Shultz.
The Baumels, who hold dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, said they applied twice for visas to the Syrian Embassy in Washington, but their applications were not even acknowledged.
Vilnay said there have been no negotiations with Syria over the missing Israeli soldiers because Israel does not hold any Syrian officers or soldiers prisoner for a possible exchange. He said he could not understand why the Syrians have imposed a blackout on information. “Their thinking and ours are not the same,” he said. Miriam Baumel appealed to Assad. “Being a father yourself, please show more understanding for our situation,” she said.
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