Israeli Cabinet ministers have been asked to make no further public comments on the hostage situation, in the hope of preserving an atmosphere conducive to negotiations for the captives’ release.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Moshe Arens, who are in frequent telephone contact during the day, have ruled that only they will be permitted to make statements in newspaper, radio and television interviews, both in Israel and abroad.
The blanket of silence was ordered after Israeli leaders received reports of United Nations Undersecretary-General Marrack Goulding’s visits to Damascus and Beirut.
The undersecretary reported that while he was meeting in Beirut with Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the sheikh was handed a note describing how Israeli leaders had referred to the Hezbollah, or Party of God, as a “pack of liars.”
Fadlallah, who is spiritual mentor of the Islamic fundamentalist group, was visibly angered and reportedly threatened to break off all talks on the release of three Israeli soldiers being held by Shiite groups in Lebanon.
Goulding, who was dispatched to the Middle East to investigate the fate of U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins, arrived in Israel on Tuesday morning, after spending the night at the headquarters of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon at Nakoura.
The U.N. envoy met first in Tel Aviv with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, William Brown. He then drove to Jerusalem for meetings with Rabin and Deputy Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is heading a special Foreign Ministry team appointed to handle the hostage situation.
DEMANDED OBEID’S RELEASE
Goulding is said to have angered Rabin by demanding that Israel release Shiekh Abdul Karim Obeid, whom Israeli commandos seized July 28 from his home in southern Lebanon.
Israel has offered to release Obeid and other Moslem prisoners if Shiite groups agree to free the three Israeli soldiers and Western hostages they are holding in Lebanon.
Goulding was to return to New York Tuesday evening, to report to U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar.
Rabin told reporters after his meeting with the U.N. envoy that the United Nations is not interested in getting involved in negotiations for the release of Western hostages or three Israeli prisoners of war being held in Lebanon.
The defense minister said Israel would prefer that hostage negotiations be conducted discreetly by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has helped arrange past prisoner swaps.
But neither direct nor indirect negotiations have yet been launched, respected Ha’aretz military correspondent Ze’ev Schiff reported Tuesday. He wrote that proposals issued in recent days by various Shiite extremist factions are being viewed by Israeli officials as trial balloons, rather than concrete offers.
The Israel Defense Force chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron briefed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday on military matters, including the hostage situation.
Committee members were allowed to ask questions, but the panel chairman, Eliahu Ben-Elissar, ruled out any debate for fear of unauthorized leaks.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
