A glimmer of hope emerged today that an Israeli soldier missing in action from the war in Lebanon is alive in Damascus where he is being held prisoner by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an extremist group led by Nayef Hawatmeh. The whereabouts of Zecharia Baumel was reported last night by Jordan TV, but no other details were given.
Premier Shimon Peres immediately initiated diplomatic action in an effort to obtain Baumel’s release and his return home. He asked U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering to contact Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, who was in Jordan until this afternoon, to try to get more information on Baumel’s fate. Upon his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport today, Murphy said he had no further information.
Baumel is one of four soldiers still missing. He, Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz were reported missing near Sultan Yaackoub in eastern Lebanon following a tank battle with Syrian forces in 1982. Another soldier, Sasmir Asad of the Druze village of Beit Jann in the Galilee, was captured near Sidon during another battle.
Peres told a group of families of missing soldiers that As was being held in Damascus by Hawatmeh’s group. The Premier said Israel is holding Syria responsible for the fate of the missing soldiers.
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