Syria ,,Charged With Torturing Israeli POWs
(Continued from Page 1)
his preliminary report fund: in painful positions and other
peace or war." He said that
"The over-all picture ob- methods."
the chief medical officer in tained is that the vast major-
Meanwhile, Dr. Daniel
ity of prisoners were exposed Reis, chief of orthopedics and
during their imprisonment to accident service at the Re-
CONVERSATIONAL
severe physical and mental becca Sieff Government Hos-
SPANISH, FRENCH, GERMAN
torture. The usual methods of pital in Safed, has refuted
& PORTUGUESE LESSONS
torture were beatings aimed accusations by a former
PRIVATE & GROUP
at various parts of the body, Syrian POW that he was
GAMBOA SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES electric shocks, wounds delib- maltreated in an Israeli hos-
15900 W. 10 Mile Rd. . 559 7433 erately inflicted on the ears, pital. In a letter to Col. Ad-
burns on the legs, suspension nan Hoder, Dr. Reis wrote
that "You owe your life to
the energetic treatment you
received both in the field and
in our hospital."
Referring to the Syrian
officer's accusation that his
leg was amputated unneces-
sarily, Dr. Reis wrote: "I
hardly think you would have
liked to die from gangrene
of your dead left leg. As it
is now, you have two excel-
lent below-knees stumps, and
with practice you will be able
to walk and lead a useful
life."
The doctor said while he
did not expect gratitude and
realizes the severity of the
colonel's injury, "I still re-
quire you to behave as an
officer and gentleman."
SUNDAY, JUNE 16
Peres accused the Syrians
of firing point blank at pilots
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Peres said two soldiers
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The -defense minister said
there was no proof that rep-
resentatives of any foreign
power took an active part in
the interrogations.
Peres said the attempt by
Syria to trump up entirely
unfounded charges concern-
ing the treatment of the
Syrian POWs in Israel "would
not weaken the power of
truth or mitigate the appal-
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ling cruelty" of the Syrians.
The Knesset adopted a reso-
lution, with only the Rakah
Communists in opposition,
calling on the government to
publish the facts of the mis-
treatment of the POWs and
make them known through-
out the world.
Many of the returned
POWs watched the Knesset
debate from the gallery.
Looking up at them, Peres
said "Their capture, their
imprisonment and their re-
turn have renewed our feel-
ings of being a united peo-
ple, a people which can unite
in times of hardship and
anxiety." The POWs were
later taken to lunch by Knes-
set Speaker Yisrael Yeshay-
ahu.
It was reported that the
government is already pre-
paring a "Black Book," de-
tailing the mistreatment of
the POWs, to be released
soon in several languages.
Officials said completion of
the Black Book awaits full
debriefing of the POWs by
army doctors.
(In Amsterdam, two re-
cently released Israeli POWs
told Dutch television they
were systematically sub-
jected to torture while in
Syrian captivity. The inter-
view with pilot Itamar Bar-
nea and tank commander
Daniel Levin was shown on
Dutch television this week.
(Barnea said he had been
kept in solitary confinement
for three months, blindfolded
on a bare cell floor in "ap-
palling conditions." Lewin
cited cases of systematic
tortures:
(Barnea's father-in -1 a w,
Dutch-born Zvi Eyal, who is
a professor of surgery at Is-
rael's Hadassah Hospital,
also was interviewed. He
said he considered it a "mir-
acle" his son-in-law was alive
and charged that Syria's
"horrible treatment flouted
both medical and human
standards.")
Information Minister Ahar-
on Yariv said the govern-
ment planned to contact "in-
ternational bodies" with a
view to taking "further
steps." He said the cabinet
expressed its deep apprecia-
tion for the brave way in
which the POWs stood up to
their "tormentors" and "con_
demned utterly, in anger and
disgust, this inhuman con-
duct by the Syrians."
An Israeli army spokes-
man denied categorically
allegations by • returned
Syrian POWs that they had
been mistreated in Israeli
prisons.
The Geneva Conventions
governing the treatment of
POWs were scrupulously ad-
hered to by Israeli prison
authorities and in some in-
stances the treatment of the
Syrian POWs was better and
more humane than prescribed
by the conventions, he said.
Two Israeli pilots, cap-
tured in Lebanon when their
Phantom jet was shot down
near the Syrian-Lebanese
border two months ago, were
returned June 8. The flyers,
Amir Rafaeli and Yifrah
Shadmi, were met at the
Rosh Hanikra border post by
Chief of Staff Gen. Mordechai
Gur and Air Force Com-
mander Gen. Banyamin Pe-
led. They deicribed their
treatment by the Lebanese as
"fifty-fifty" and said it im-
proved markedly in the last
eight days when they could
"sense" that they were about
to be released.
Two other Israeli POWs in
Lebanon were freed last
week but no announcement
was made at the time. The
Israeli prisoners were ex-
changed for 11 Lebanese
civilians and one gendarme
captured by Israeli forces
during a commando raid into
southern Lebanon after the
April 11 Kiryat Shemona
massacre.
Capt. Ami Rokah said that
he and other pilots taken by
Avi Lanir, a downed Israeli the Syrians were beaten on
pilot who, according to all their ears to make them phy-
available evidence, was tor- sically unable to fly again.
tured to death by his Syrian
One returned pilot, an am-
captors, was buried here putee, said he had bailed out
Wednesday.
of his plane safely and was
Lanir, a graduate of the in good condition when the
Haifa Technion and the Syrians captured him. But
father of two children, bailed the torture he suffered under
out over Syrian territory Oct. interrogation caused severe
13 when his plane was shot wounds in his lower leg
down by a ground-to-air • mis- which had to be amputated,
sile during a dog fight with he said.
The accounts of torture by
Syrian MIGs. Israeli forces
nearby witnessed his lam: rig returned soldiers and air-
and capture by the Syrians men were borne out by three
before they could rescue him. Israeli Bedouin civilians the
He was seen walking with his Syrians captured when they
captors, indicating that he attacked Israel last Oct. 6.
was in good physical condi-
They said they were tor-
tion.
tured brutally, starved and
But when Secretary of constantly questioned. They
State Henry A. Kissinger said a fourth Bedouin cap-
arrived from Damascus two tive, an elderly man, had
months ago with the first list died from the mistreatment
of Israeli prisoners in Syrian and lack of medical atten-
hands, Lanir's name was tion.
missing. Israeli POWs who
Israeli sources noted that
returned from Syria last as bad as their treatment
week reported that he was was, the returned Israeli
alive at least a month after prisoners were in much bet-
his capture. One returning ter condition than other Is-
pilot said he talked to Lanir raelis who had fallen into
in prison. It is therefore clear Syrian hands in past years
to Israeli authorities that and returned completely
Lanir died in Syrian hands, broken in body and mind.
probably as a result of tor-
When the last 53 Israeli
ture.
prisoners stepped off a char-
tered plane at Ben-Gurion
Airport, they were surround-
ed by hundreds of joyful rela-
tives, who surged past the
barriers to embrace the re-
turnees and hoist them on
their shoulders.
Premier Yitzhak Rabin,
who came to greet the freed
POWs, tore up his prepared
speech. "Words are unneces-
sary. You can see what's
happening here," he said.
Defense Minister Shimon
Peres, who was with Rabin
and Chief of Staff - Gen. Mor-
dechai Gur, said, "This is
the end of an important chap-
ter in the history of Israel.
I hope there will now be a
somewhat more peaceful at-
mosphere for this genera-
tion." Former Premier Golda
Meir also was at the airport.
The final POW exchange,
following by 24 hours the
signing of the last disengage.
ment documents and maps
by the Israeli and Syrian
military working groups in
Geneva, came exactly eight
months to the day of the
Syrian-Egyptian attack on Is-
rael — Oct. 6, 1973.
At approximately the same
time the Israeli soldiers
landed, a Red Cross char-
tered jumbo jet took off for
'Damascus with 382 freed
Syrian, Moroccan and Iraqi
POWs.
Israel received the bodies
of 19 soldiers and airmen
who died in the Yom Kippur
War and were buried in
Damascus. Israel in turn
handed over eight Syrian
bodies.
The exchange took place
along the Damascus-Kuneitra
Road. A unit of the army
chaplaincy received the
bodies in a religious cere-
mony.
In Washington, Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger has
received a scroll for his
"great contribution" toward
bringing about the release of
the 69 Israeli prisoners.
The scroll was presented
by Dov Zachin, a member of
the Knesset who represented
a committee of parents of Is-
raeli POWs in Syria.
•••• --•
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, June 14, 1974 17
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398-7180