Israel has welcomed the release from Lebanon of British hostage Jack Mann, but made clear it will not free any more Arab prisoners until it is given reliable information on the fate of Israeli servicemen missing in Lebanon.
“When such irrefutable evidence is available, I believe Israel will make suitable gestures, but not before,” said Uri Slonim, a lawyer attached to the Israeli team negotiating a prisoner exchange through U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Tuesday night that he hoped to have good news for Israelis soon about the fate and return of Israeli prisoners. “But I cannot say anything about the further steps being taken in these complicated negotiations,” he added.
Shamir welcomed the release of Mann, a 77-year-old World War II fighter pilot held captive for 28 months. The pro-Iranian Hezbollah, or Party of God, turned him over to British officials in Damascus on Tuesday.
“I would hope that in the near future I will be able to announce something about which our public will be glad to hear,” Shamir said.
Israel wants confirmation of reports that Capt. Ron Arad, an air force navigator shot down over Lebanon in 1986, is alive, and it ultimately hopes to get him back.
Israel also demands more credible information than it has obtained so far about the fate of Yosef Fink, an Israel Defense Force solider captured in Lebanon in 1986 and believed dead.
It has accepted as “credible evidence” information confirming the death of another IDF soldier, Rachamim Alsheikh, kidnapped the same time as Fink.
The Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army released 51 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners from El-Khiam detention camp in southern Lebanon on Sept. 11. At the same time, Israel returned the bodies of nine Hezbollah fighters.
In exchange, Hezbollah returned the body of Sgt. Samir Assad, a Druse IDF soldier who had died in captivity. The Shi’ite group now contends Israel had promised, through Perez de Cuellar, to free 80 prisoners in exchange for Assad’s remains.
Defense Ministry spokesman Danny Naveh flatly denied that. He said the next move is up to Iran and the Lebanese groups holding hostages.
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