Last update - 00:00 16/10/2007
Information from Hezbollah did not reveal Ron Arad's fate
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Haaretz has learned that information provided Monday by Lebanese-based guerilla group Hezbollah during an exchange with Israel did not shed light on the fate of Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who has been missing since his plane went down over Lebanon exactly 21 years ago, on October 16, 1986.
In the first swap since the Second Lebanon War, Israel on Monday released an ailing Hezbollah fighter as well as the bodies of two others, in exchange for the remains of an Israeli civilian who drowned two years ago off the coast of the north and whose body was swept into Lebanese waters.
Documents given to Israel by Hezbollah on Monday outlined the group's efforts to discover Arad's fate, which had it agreed to do following a 2004 deal that led to the return of Israeli businessman Elhanan Tennenbaum and the bodies of three Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
The guerilla group claims that its efforts to discover Arad's fate have failed and it has been unable to locate supposed site of his grave. The group is now demanding that Israel honor the second part of the 2004 deal. According to the deal, Hebzollah promised to supply reliable information about Arad's fate in exchange for Israel's release of Samir Kuntar, who murdered the Haran family in Nahariya in 1979.
The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar claimed that Hezbollah gave Israel documents written in Arad's handwriting.
The Lebanese paper did not specify when the documents with Arad's handwriting were written, but reported that they apparently dated to when he was held in Lebanon.
The documents also revealed that Hezbollah had been holding the body of the Israeli civilian that was swept into Lebanon's waters since it was handed over to them by a Lebanese civilian.
Chen Arad, Ron's brother, said Tuesday he would not respond to the Lebanese newspaper reports until he returns to Israel from Germany.
Arad is in Germany in an effort to persuade Berlin to delay the release of two imprisoned Iranian agents, asking that their freedom be conditioned on information from Tehran on the fate of his brother.
The two were convicted of assassinating Iranian Kurdish dissident leader Sadiq Sarafkindi and three of his associates, and were sentenced to life in 1997.
German Attorney General Monika Harms, however, told Chen Arad and Ron Arad's daughter Yuval on Tuesday that Berlin is standing behind its decision to free Kazem Darabi and Abbas Rhayel.
Harms' office said last week that the two prisoners would be released and deported in December, citing a law that allows early release for foreigners who have served at least 15 years of their sentence. The pair had been held in pre-trial custody for approximately five years, which counts toward their overall time served.
Following the announcement, the German Foreign Ministry denied speculation the release was linked to any deals with Iran. Harms also insisted the early release was in keeping with German law and unrelated to any external agreements.
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