Representative of the Red Cross visited the six Israeli prisoners of war held by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon last week. The Intemational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today that the visit took place last Friday, July 15, and the POWs were found in good condition.
According to the ICRC, the visit was conducted under its regulations. The POWs were able to speak freely with the Red Cross representatives without witnesses present. The delegation included a doctor.
The visit was the first since the middle of March. The ICRC had been concerned over rumors last June that the prisoners were transferred to Syria or Libya. The recent fighting that broke out within PLO ranks caused additional concern that the Israeli POWs might be harmed. But those concerns proved needless.
The ICRC here expressed satisfaction that the visit was allowed after prolonged negotiations. But it refused, for security reasons, to say where the prisoners are being held.
Syria holds three Israeli POWs who are visited by the Red Cross regularly every three weeks. But two Israelis held by Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command have been visited only once early last May.
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