The Defense Ministry has flatly denied a report in the Sunday Times of London that Israel is negotiating with Hezbollah, the Islamic fundamentalist Party of God, for return of the bodies of two of its soldiers.
It was the second week in a row that the Sunday Times claimed the soldiers, Yossi Fink and Rahamim Alsheikh, are dead. The two have been missing for three years and are believed to be captives of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The Sunday Times reported on Aug. 13 that a Hezbollah leader in Israeli custody, Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid, told his Israeli interrogators that both soldiers died of wounds shortly after being captured in a 1986 ambush.
Israel made clear it does not accept what Obeid said as credible evidence.
A Defense Ministry spokesman reiterated Sunday that the two men are thought to be alive until proven otherwise.
This week’s Sunday Times account said Israel offered to exchange Obeid and 450 Shiite and Palestinian prisoners for Ron Arad, a downed Israeli air force navigator held hostage in Lebanon by the mainstream Shiite Amal militia, as well as the remains of Fink and Alsheikh.
The original Sunday Times story created an uproar in Israel, because the public, including the soldiers’ families, has been led to believe the soldiers are still alive.
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