EDITORIAL

Held Hostage

If Israel were to free Sheik Obeid and hundreds of Palestinian
prisoners for the return of a handful of Western hostages, what is
to prevent the Arab terrorists from going out and seizing some new
Westerners to be used as human bargaining chips in the future?
There is no symmetry in the Arab-Israeli equation, and that is
no more evident than in the realization that a democracy is at an
unfair advantage in dealing with terrorists. Israel will not kill Sheik
Obeid, though he is a terrorist; the Hezbollah will kill innocent peo-
ple if they think it will help their cause. While the U.S. still holds
to the sterile and dishonest policy of refusing to negotiate with ter-
rorists, Israel has gotten her hands dirty in taking a bold, desperate
measure to gain the release of three Israeli prisoners of war.
Israel's commitment to do all that it can to rescue her soldiers
is rooted in the Biblical concept of pidyon sh'vuim, the supreme com-
mandment to rescue Jewish hostages. It is a sacred and pragmatic
mandate, a religious tradition that gives soldiers confidence in know-
ing that their government will go to enormous lengths to rescue each
of them.
Seeking a deal for the release of hostages is but one step in solv-
ing the overall crisis. To put an end to the cycle of terrorist hostage-
taking, the United States has to have the commitment to warn the
nations that bankroll the terrorists, namely Iran and Syria, that
unless all of the hostages are released, the U.S. will use its economic,
diplomatic and military clout to punish them. Unless Washington
is willing to take such an action, its message to the terrorists is that
they can continue to kidnap and murder Americans and pay no price
for their deeds.

Those who are quick to blame rather than thank Israel for tak-
ing steps to rescue hostages — Rev. Jesse Jackson this week called
Israel's apprehending of Sheik Obeid a "terrorist attack" — have
yet to explain how the U.S. was planning to bring about their release.
As The New Republic noted this week, "the real offense of the Israelis
is that they take the fight against terrorism seriously.

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ANALYSIS

The Cruel Irony Of The Organization Of The Oppressed

GEORGE GRUEN

Special to The Jewish News

W

ho is behind the
Organization of the
Oppressed on Earth
that kidnapped and has
reportedly hanged U.S.
Marine Lt. Co. William Hig-
gins? What is the background
of this shadowy terrorist cell?
This Lebanese Shiite fac-
tion is ideologically and
operationally linked to the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah, or
Party of God. It apparently
seeks to draw its inspiration
from the late Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, who
declared in a meeting with
the Syrian Foreign Minister
on Aug. 16, 1979, "I hope that
a party under the name of the
`Party of the Oppressed' will
be formed throughout the
world."
This new party, which Kho-
meini said was to be
synonymous with the Party of
God, was intended "to ac-
tualize the promise of Islam,
which means the reign of the
oppressed over the oppressors

Dr. George E. Gruen is
director of Middle East
affairs for the American
Jewish Committee.

6

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1989

and their inheritance of the
earth."
A group bearing this name
first surfaced in Beirut in
December 1985, when it an-
nounced it was executing two
Lebanese Jews from among
four it had kidnapped in
March 1985.
Two additional Lebanese
Jewish hostages were killed
by this extremist group in
February 1986, after Israel
failed to meet the group's
demands to release all its
Lebanese and Palestinian
prisoners and to withdraw
from "all occupied ter-
ritories."
The Organization of the Op-
pressed claimed that those ex-
ecuted had all been "spies"
for Israel, but a close in-
vestigation of their personal
backgrounds demonstrates
that none of the victims had
been involved in Lebanese
politics or in the Arab-Israel
conflict.
The only thing they had in
common was that they were
born Jewish and had remain-
ed in Moslem-controlled West
Beirut after most Lebanese
Jews had fled the strife-torn
city.
Indeed, the random nature
of the attacks on the helpless
Jews was made clear in a

statement by this terrorist
group on Dec. 28, 1985, when
it warned that unless all its
demands against Israel were
met, it would kill not only
those it had already kidnap-
ped but would strike against
other Jews "on whom we may
lay our hands."
Among the best known and
most highly respected of the
Jewish victims was Dr. Elie
Hallak, a pediatrician, who
was called "the doctor of the
poor," because he often
treated without fee needy
Lebanese and Palestinian pa-
tients irrespective of their
religion or political
affiliation.
In a poignant public
challenge to the kidnappers,
his wife, Rachel, described his
benevolent career and the un-
successful efforts by his many
friends to secure his release.
Her open letter was publish-
ed in the Lebanese press and
in the French daily Le Monde
on March 5, 1986.
Well-placed Lebanese
sources believe that the
motivtion of the Organization
of the Oppressed was not
purely ideological or political.
It is believed that more
pecuniary motives were also
at work: The poor Shiites
coveted the homes and corn-

.

munal properties of the once-
prosperous Jewish communi-
ty, and pressured the kidnap
victims to turn over title to
property and bank accounts
to persons designated by the
terrorist group.
The first Jew to be killed by
the Organization of the Op-
pressed was Haim Cohen, 38,
a department store accoun-

Lebanese sources
believe that the
motivation of the
Organization of the
Oppressed was not
purely ideological
or political.

tant, who left a wife and three
young children.
The second was Professor
Isaac Tarrab, 70, retired
mathematics teacher. The
third Jew murdered was
Ibrahim (Abraham) Benisti,
34, who helped run a small
family shop. His body was
found by the Lebanese police
on Feb. 16, 1986, in a street in
Moslem West Beirut near the
"Green Line" border with
Christian East Beirut.
The Beirut coroner reported
that Benisti's body bore signs
of torture and beatings to the
head. He had been shot twice

and then strangled. The
Organization of the Oppress-
ed also abducted and subse-
quently killed his brother
Joseph, 33, and their father,
Yehudah, 68.
This radical Shiite band has
claimed to have executed a
total of nine Jews whom it
had abducted including Isaac
Sasson, 68, the president of
the Lebanese Jewish
community.

Only three bodies have
been recovered. The terrorist
group has refused to release
the bodies of any of the latter
victims, despite the urgent
appeals of their families to
the Lebanese authorities and
to the international
community.
Some family members still
cling desperately to the hope
that their loved ones may still
be alive.
More than two years have
now passed since July 24,
1987, when Joseph Mizrahi,
acting president of the
Lebanese Jewish community,
dispatched a personal appeal
to U.N. Secretary-General
Javier Perez de Cuellar urg-
ing him "in the name of the
most elementary human
rights" to use all of his moral

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