Israel indicated tonight that it will release more than 300 Shiite Moslem prisoners from the Atlit detention camp after the 39 Americans held hostage in Beirut for the past 17 days are safely in American hands.
The hostages, passengers and officers of TWA Flight 847 hijacked by Lebanese Shiites on June 14, were reported to have arrived in Damascus this evening where they will have a two hour rest before being flown in a U.S. Air Force transport to Frankfurt, West Germany, for debriefing and medical examinations prior to returning to the U.S.
Well placed sources here said there would be no release of Shiite prisoners before the hostages left Damascus, adding “that, at any rate, is the situation as of now.” They said that “previous plans” announced a month ago — long before the hijacking — provided for the release of 341 Shiite detainees in a batch and the phased release of the remaining 425 “as the security situation in south Lebanon permits.”
INCIDENTS DELAYED ORIGINAL PLANS
But, according to Israeli sources, release of the 341 was delayed, first because of an incident in south Lebanon involving the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA) and Finnish troops of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and later by the hostage crisis. There are now 735 Shiite prisoners at Atlit.
Israel released 31 last week in what was seen as a gesture to assist behind-the-scenes negotiations for the American hostages and to defuse American media criticism of Israel for not turning loose all 766 prisoners as demanded by the hijackers.
That criticism and opinion polls which indicated that a substantial number of Americans blamed Israel for prolonging the hostage crisis worried Israeli leaders. Defense sources noted over the weekend that south Lebanon has been relatively quiet of late, implying that the release of the Atlit prisoners could now be resumed according to plan while allowing Israel to echo the Reagan Administration’s assertions that “no deal” had been made with the hijackers.
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