Syrian Massacre of Israeli POWs Feared

availability to help conduct i armed forces pledged to help
bring about identification and
such an investigation.
The Red Cross suggested release of Israeli prisoners
the creation of a number of of war held by Syria.
Representatives of the or-
committees, each to consist
of three members: One each ganizations decided to spread
from the countries concerned information to their member-
and a third, neutral, which ships and to Congress about
could be appointed by either Syria's refusal to abide by
the Red Cross or any other the Geneva Convention gov-
body chosen to do so by the erning international conduct
toward military personnel
concerned countries.
These committees, the Red captured in war.
Cross communique stated,
Israel believes 102 of its
would ascertain whether the personnel are in Syrian hands
Geneva Convention has been and that 42 others were mur-
violated and define the in- dered while held captive.
terpretation of the conven-
The Israeli government an-
tions. The findings, the Red nounced all the names of the
Cross said, would be com- 367 Syrians they hold within
municated to the interested a week after the Oct. 24
parties.
cease fire. The Syrian prison-
In Paris, the Israeli dele- ers have been allowed to
gation at the Amnesty Inter- write their families and those
national convention accused who are sick or wounded
Egypt and Syria of torturing have received hospital care
and killing Israeli prisoners equal to that given Israeli
and requested Red Cross in- soldiers.
spection visits of Arab pris-
No word has been received
oner-of-war camps.
by families of the Israeli
The Israeli delegates made POWs about their condition
their charges during a news or whether they are even
conference outside the Am- living.
nesty International meeting
Representatives of the or-
site.
ganizations met at the head-
Amnesty International offi- quarters here of the Jewish
cials said the delegates were War Veterans to discuss how
speaking on their own behalf most effectively they can
and not in their capacity as.
convention– delegates.
The three delegates, who
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, Dec. 21, 1973-5 held their conference in a
nearby Arab-owned cafe, dis-
tributed photographs and
documents furnished by the
Israeli Foreign Ministry as
evidence that Egypt and
Syria "assassinated and tor-
tured captured Israeli sol-
diers." —
The spokesman for the
group, Zev Zeltner, a Jaffa
One of Allied Van Lines Largest Haulers
magistrate, said Eyptian
troops "shot right into groups
1300 N. Campbell Road
2253 Cole Street
of Israeli prisoners, tortured
Birmingham
Royal Oak
just about all of them, beat
up the wounded, hitting them
MI 4-4613
LI 1-3313
on their wounds and refused
to give them food or drink."
He asked Amnesty Interna-
tional to publicly condemn
such acts.
The Israeli delegates to the
convention said they were
asking for Red Cross inspec-
tion tours to examine treat-
ment given Israeli soldiers
stall held captive.
They said they wanted a
"black book" compiled to in-
clude the names of officials
authorizing the use of torture
"so that their descendants,
their children and their
grandchildren will know they
did such a thing," Zeltner
reported.
France's well-known author
and philosopher, Simone de
Beauvoir, decried the "inhu-
spiring magazine for parents
We would like to send you sam-
man behavior" of Syria in its
ple copies of ...
• THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT
continued refusal to turn over
• OLOMEINU—OUR WORLD—
—an informative overview of
to the Red Cross a list of
a delightful, colorful maga-
1973 in the Hebrew Day
zine, in English and Hebrew,
School movement
Israeli prisoners of war it
for children
• CATALOGUE OF PUBLICA-
holds captive.
THE JEWISH PARENT — a
TIONS—a listing of materials
In a special article in the
thoughtful, authoritative, in-
published by Torah Umesorah
newspaper "Le Monde," Ms.
de Beauvoir condemned
Syria's "gratuitous cruelty"
•
and said that if Damascus
reau for this unique educational
We think everyone should know
continues to "step on the
phenomenon, Torah Umesorah
more about one of the most dy-
laws (Geneva Convention)
believes that an informed public
namic developments in the
recognized by all nations to
is vital to the continued flourish-
American Jewish community —
limit the horrors of war, then
ing of Hebrew DaySchools, upon
the dramatic growth of Hebrew
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it deserves to be called "bar-
ditional Jewry in the Diaspora.
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years (30 schools in 1944, 463
Furthermore, she said, the
your FREE samples will be sent
schools in 1973!). As the prime
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counter to the rest of the
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Arab world's campaign since
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War to improve its rather
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Di ive On to Help
Free Israeli POWs
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WASHINGTON (JTA) —
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WASHINGTON (JTA) —
Pentagon sources have ex-
pressed the view that Syria's
refusal to attend the Geneva
peace talks and her refusal
to release a list of Israeli
POWs or to let any Interna-
tional Red Cross representa-
tive visit the POW camps is
due to the fact that there
may be no Israeli-POWs alive
in Syria.
While these sources were
careful to say that they have
no empirical evidence for
this feeling, the intransigence
of the Syrians appears to be
a coverup for what is feared
by these sources to have
beon a wholesale massacre
e lore than 100 Israeli
so.....ers who were captured
during the Yom Kippur War.
One non-Pentagon source
made this observation: "I
might be persuaded to go
along with the Syrian view
that the exchange of prison-
ers should await the outcome
of the Geneva talks, but I
cannot be persuaded that a
list of names cannot be pro-
vided right now if for no
other reason than to dispel
any suspicions about the fate
of the Israeli soldiers I have
a gnawing feeling that the
refusal on the part of Syria to
even provide a list of names
is an ill omen."

According to unofficial re-
ports from Damascus
Wednesday morning, the Syr-
ians claim that Israeli sol-
diers had been killed after
they were taken prisoners
but that the killing was the
work of Moroccan and Iraqi
troops who were in Syria
during the war.
The reports also claimed
that some Syrian soldiers
were themselves killed in the
act of trying to protect Is-
raeli prisoners.
Observers here, however,
tended to discount this ver-
sion, noting that this seems
to be a last-minute argument
to stave off further interna-
tional pressure and to avoid
diplomatic entanglements
should Syria decide to show
up at the Geneva talks after
all.
Red Cross Ready
to Investigate Charges
of Convention Violations
GENEVA (JTA) — The In-
ternational Red Cross Com-
mittee announced here that
it is prepared, should the in-
terested parties request it to
do so, to investigate charges
that Syria, Egypt and Israel
had violated the Geneva con-
vention.
The Red Cross said that it
has informed the three •gov-
ernments concerned of its

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bring public attention to the
Syrian government's refusal
to act under the Geneva ac-
cords.
T h e organizations repre-
sented at the meeting in-
cluded the American Legion,
Amvets, Veterans of Foreign
Wars, Disabled War Veter-
ans, Catholic War Veterans,
JWV Auxiliary, the American
Red Cross, National League
of Families of American
Prisoners of War and Miss-
ing in Action in Southeast
Asia, Reserve Officers As-
sociation, Retired Officers
Association, Association of
the U.S. Army and the Air
Force Association.

The mother of an Israeli
infantryman and the preg-
nant wife of a flier who are
held prisoners in Syria ap-
pealed to Americans to help
bring about their release.

WE,CAN FIT YOU.!

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to .9

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• --STYLES. SIZES 6 to 44

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WEDDINGS, BAR MITZVA'S -
PARTIES. SIZES 6' to 44

ANDELS

154 SOUTH WOODWARD
BIRMINGHAM MI 2-4150

The women were afraid
their husbands might be
harmed. The father of an-
other infantryman captured
by the Syrians was unable to
appear at the news confer-
ence held at the Israeli Em-
bassy.
The 49-year-old woman,
who said she was from a
kibutz, stated that her 21-
year-old son, captured on the
first day of the war, was
alive on Oct. 15 when she
saw him on a television pro-
gram from Syria.
The 21-year-old wife, who
is six-months pregnant, said
her pilot husband was injured
when he came down in the
Golan Heights gn Oct. 21. She
knew about this from a Leb-
anese newspaperman's inter-
v i e w with him that was
filmed by NBC. He was the
last Israeli to be captured.

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