THE
POWER
AND THE
Glory
Let's Make a Deal?
Despite its official policy, Israel will negotiate
with terrorists if it means saving Israeli lives.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
I
srael's official policy is
to never negotiate
with terrorists. The
reality is different.
Israel has arranged a
number of prisoner ex-
changes with terrorist
groups, generally lopsided
trades that saw Israel
release hundreds or
thousands of Arabs for a
handful of Israelis. These in-
cluded a 1985 deal in which
Israel exchanged 1,150 Arab
prisoners for three Israelis.
"No doubt the price was
high," Defense Minister Yit-
zhak Rabin said of the move.
"But I ask every Israeli
citizen, if his son was in cap-
tivity, how would he expect
me to behave?"
Israel has not, however,
deviated from its policy of
refusing to release its own
prisoners for other countries'
hostages. This has come
under scrutiny in recent
weeks after terrorists freed
two Western captives, and
Israel was pressured to do
the same as a "gesture."
Israel insists it will not do
so, though it is interested in
an exchange that would in-
clude the seven Israelis
missing since the 1980s.
Israel made its most con-
troversial exchange, in 1985,
with the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine -
General Command (PFLP-
GC), a pro-Syrian terrorist
group. Israel released 1,150
Arab prisoners at various
locations, the largest
exchange occurring at
Geneva airport where 394
Arabs were flown in from
Tel Aviv and boarded a
plane for Libya. At the same
time three Israelis, all of
whom were captured during
the war in Lebanon, arrived
from Damascus.
Unlike in the past, in the
1985 swap Israel released
Palestinians serving life
sentences for murder and
other crimes of terrorism.
. Many of the prisoners were
members of the Syrian-
backed PFLP-GC, and some
80 were convicted of killing
Israelis. These included Ziad
Abu Eain, convicted in 1979
of planting a bomb in
Tiberias that killed two
Israeli youth; Kozo
Okamoto, a member of a pro-
Palestinian Japanese Red
Army squad that killed 16
people in the 1972 Lod Air-,
port massacre; and two
members of a Palestine Lib-
eration Organization ter-
rorist squad that killed 33
Israelis in a 1978 attack out-
side Tel Aviv.
Israel also participated in
a 1983 prisoner exchange,
trading 4,500 Lebanese and
Palestinians for six Israeli
POWs, and a 1984 exchange
when it released 300 Syrians
for six Israelis. But neither
of these incidents provoked
the kind of outrage raised by
the 1985 exchange, both be-
cause of the nature of the
prisoners' crimes and be-
cause the released men were
permitted to return to the
administered territories,
rather than being deported.
When the prisoners were
let go, Yitzhak Shamir, in
1985 Israel's foreign min-
ister, requested that the
Knesset grant amnesty to 19
Israelis awaiting trial for
anti-Arab violence. He was
supported by fellow Likud
member Ariel Sharon, who
said, "It is inconceivable
that the worst murderers be
freed while the Jews are left
behind bars."
In addition to hostage
swaps, Israel has on many
occasions freed Arab
prisoners simply as a good-
will gesture, with no concur-
rent release of Israelis by
Arab groups. In May 1989,
Israel released 452 Palestin-
ian prisoners just before the
Muslim fast of Ramadan.
"No doubt the price
was high," Defense
Minister Yitzhak
Rabin said of the
prisoner swap.
"But I ask every
Israeli citizen, if his
son was in
captivity, how
would he expect
me to behave?"
Such gestures have not
resulted in similar responses
from terrorists holding
either Israeli or Western
captives.
Last October, Israel freed
40 Lebanese Shi'ite
prisoners in a gesture many
hoped would spark some in-
formation about the seven
Israelis still missing in Leb-
anon, who are believed to be
dead. The move received no
response.
Today, some 375 Moslem
Shi'ites remain held by the
Israel-backed South
Lebanese Army. Their
release — along with that of
Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid —
is believed to be Islamic
Jihad's top priority.
Israeli commandos in 1989
captured Sheik Obeid, a
spiritual leader of the terror-
supporting Hezbollah or
"Party of God," during a
raid. Israel is said to be ne-
gotiating with Iranian and
Syrian officials for the
sheik's release.
Meanwhile, seven Israeli
citizens, abducted between
1984 and 1986, reportedly by
an Islamic terrorist group,
continue to be held in Leb-
anon. The seven were among
11 abducted, four of whom
were murdered when the
kidnappers "executed the
1g sentence of Allah." Another
seven Israel Defense Force
I soldiers also are being held
2 in Lebanon.
Last week, a Shi'ite group
LL
claimed it was holding three
Israelis and offered to trade
them for Sheik Obeid and
other "Palestinian freedom
fighters." 0
-7-
In 1989, Israel released 452 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture.
30
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1991