BACKGROUND
ALLERGY AND ASTHMA CENTER
OF SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN, P.C.
Evaluation and treatment of allergic disorders by
Dr. Michael S. Rowe and Dr. Michael J. Hepner,
both certified by the American Board of Allergy
and Immunology and both specializing in —
• Allergic nasal and eye
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as eczema and
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• Allergies to stinging
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• Sinus problems
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sensitivities
Should Israelis Hand Over
Lebanese Sheik To U.S.?
If Israel's three captured soldiers are
dead, the question of trading the
Hezbollah cleric for them is academic.
Perhaps the United States can use him
in negotiating for its hostages.
HELEN DAVIS
Foreign Correspondent
Phone (313) 473-8440
for information, appointment or to arrange complimentary
office visit. Very flexible office hours to comply with your
schedule. Most health-care insurances accepted.
24230 Karim Blvd. (10 Mile Rd. West of Haggerty) Suite 130, Novi, Michigan
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38
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1989
T
hree days after two
young Israeli soldiers
were ambushed and
seized while on a routine
patrol near the South
Lebanese village of Beit
Yahoun in February 1986, a
grainy picture of the two men
appeared in the Arabic-
language Beirut newspaper
Al-Ahd.
The first cause for alarm in
Jerusalem was that both
Yosef Fink and Rahamim
Alsheikh were apparently
severely injured. Both were
lying in cots, one with his
head bandaged, and both
were hooked up to in-
travenous drips. Neither man
was looking at the camera.
The second cause for alarm
was that the journal which
carried the photograph was
the official mouthpiece of the
uncompromising Shi'ite fun-
damentalist Hezbollah move-
ment, a fact underscored by
the pictures of Iranian clerics
and the Islamic texts which
covered the walls above their
beds.
While that single picture
might have been worth a
thousand words, it did not
answer the question that was
haunting both the families of
the two men and their
comrades-in-arms: What,
precisely, was their condition?
Sheik Abdul Kareem
Obeid, the Shi'ite leader who
was kidnapped by Israeli
soldiers from his home in the
South Lebanese town of Jib-
chit earlier this month to
trade for the captured Israeli
servicemen, has apparently
provided the answer.
Both men, the 36-year-old
mullah reportedly told his
Israeli captors, were dead.
Both had died of wounds they
sustained in the ambush.
Moreover, he told his inter-
rogators, the third missing
Israeli, Ron Arad, navigator
of an Israeli F-4 Phantom ,
which was shot down over the
South Lebanese port city of
Sidon in October 1986, was
not being held by Hezbollah,
but by a Lebanese militia
closely aligned with Syria
rather than Iran.
Last weekend, Marie Col-
yin, the highly respected Mid-
dle East correspondent of the
London Sunday Times,
reported that the news came
as a blow to Israeli Prime
Minister Yitihak Shamir,
who ordered his cabinet
ministers not to discuss the
matter.
Sheikh Obeid:
Both are dead.
Quoting security sources in
Jerusalem, she also reported
that the Israeli leader at-
tempted to keep the news
from the United States.
According to Colvin's
sources, Shamir feared that
Washington would exert in-
tense pressure on Israel to ex-
change Obeid for the 17
Western hostages — including
eight Americans and four
Britons — who are still being
held by Hezbollah.
"The Israelis," she wrote,
"expect President George
Bush to argue that if Israel no
longer needs Obeid as a
bargaining chip, he should be
offered for Americans being
held by Hezbollah."
While the Israel's political
leaders are still refusing to
publicly acknowledged that
its two soldiers are dead,
sources note the sudden news
blackout imposed in Israel
last week on any discussion
about a possible exchange of
hostages and prisoners.
They also note that secret
negotiations, conducted in
various European capitals
between Israeli and fun-
damentalist officials over the
I
- -o
Israeli captives, broke down
just days before the Obeid ab-
duction because the Shi'ites
refused to supply proof that
the Israelis were alive.
Israeli leaders now face a
critical dilemma: On one
hand, they will win valuable
political points • in
Washington if they agree to
free Obeid and about 450
Shi'ite prisoners within the
context of a broader deal that
would win the release of the
Western hostages.
On the other, they will have
difficulty explaining to their
Israeli constituents why their
intelligence services failed to
determine that the soldiers
were already dead and that
the air force navigator was
not, in fact, being held by
Hezbollah.
Israelis have shown in the
past that they are prepared to
pay a wildly disproportionate
price for the release of their
soldiers from foreign captivi-
ty and, almost without excep-
tion, those in the Israeli
political mainstream sup-
ported the Obeid action, not-
withstanding the interna-
tional outrage it provoked.
While Israelis applauded
the decision to abduct Sheik
Obeid as a bargaining chip to
secure the release of their
captured servicemen,
however, they are likely to
react angrily to the news that
Israel's leaders endangered
the lives of additional Israeli
soldiers without the possibili-
ty of achieving any direct
Israeli gain.
Moreover, Israel is likely to
face a confrontation with
Washington and other
Western capitals over Obeid
— if indeed his release is part
of a package deal with Hez-
bollah over the freedom of the
surviving Western hostages.
Having captured Sheik
Obeid, the Israelis are unlike-
ly to let him go without a
fight.
Through interrogation at a
villa on the Mediterranean
coast north of Tel Aviv, they
have, apparently, established
that the Shi'ite sheik was
directly involved in several
kidnappings, including those
of the two Israeli soldiers and
U.S. Lt. Col. William Higgins,
who was attached to a United
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