Captured Terrorist Says El Fatah ‘bought Me for a Paltry 100 Lebanese Pounds’

A captured Arab terrorist gave a tearful account on Israeli television last night of his recruitment by El Fatah in Lebanon and his abortive mission to kidnap an Israeli, All Abed el Binary, 32, who said he was a house painter by profession, was one of five guerrillas rounded up by Israeli forces on Jan. 2 after they landed on Israel’s northern shore from a motorboat. The capture of the gang and disclosure of their mission led to an Israeli commando raid on a guerrilla base 30 miles up the Lebanese coast last week. El Biari said he was recruited last year by Abu Yusef, the El Fatah commander of the Sarafand camp in the Sidon district. “They bought me for a paltry 100 Lebanese pounds,” he complained. He said he thought the money was a gift because his wife was about to give birth at the time, But he was then ordered to enlist in El Fatah, given a uniform and trained to use a Kalahnikof automatic rifle. El Blare burst into tears when he was asked if he wanted to send greetings to his wife and his two young sons, Hassan and Samir. He said, “Tell them I am well and that I have asked the Israeli authorities to have mercy on me and send me back to them soon.” The prisoner spoke bitterly of Abu Yusef who, he said, drove around in a chauffeured limousine but “to the best of my knowledge, never participated in any action.” He said the El Fatah base attacked by Israeli commandos operated with the full knowledge of Lebanese authorities.