Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Friday he believed that three Israeli soldiers captured by Lebanon's Hizbollah resistance movement in October were still alive, reported Haaretz newspaper.
“Despite the UN report’s pessimistic findings that the three were likely gravely injured in their capture and could have succumbed to their injuries, I think they are still alive.
"In my opinion the soldiers are still alive, and I will continue the battle to return them home," he said.
"I don't possess any definitive information in order to say that the soldiers are not alive," he added.
The UN said Friday that the three Israeli soldiers captured October 7, 2000 by the Lebanese Hizbollah could have succumbed to their injuries.
Traces of blood were found in two all-terrain vehicles allegedly used by the Islamist militants to seize the soldiers from the occupied Shabaa Farms region, which borders Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
The revelation appeared in a report generated at the request of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to investigate possible mistakes made by the United Nations mission in southern Lebanon after the kidnapping, according to AFP.
But Haim Avraham, father of one of the kidnapped soldiers, told Israel Channel One that the UN report did not include all of the relevant information.
"There is nothing new [in the report]," he said, cited by Haaretz.
"There are additional findings the UN did not release. There are investigations the UN carried out on [UNIFIL's] Indian contingent that the UN was supposed to release."
Avraham said that he would continue legal efforts to force the UN to release any other relevant findings for examination by Israel security officials.
The BBC quoted the report as revealing that there were in fact three, not one, videotapes taken after the operation, and they indicated the men could have been badly or even fatally wounded.
The 30-minute videotape shot by UN peacekeepers the day after the kidnapping shows the blue helmeted troops' attempts to recover the vehicles “despite aggression by presumed members of Hizbollah.”
A note from the deputy commander of the UN force known as UNIFIL dated October 9 affirmed that the amount of blood found in the vehicles led him to believe the occupants "may have been badly injured and may succumb to their injuries."
The information, released in an internal UN report, was not at the time communicated to UN headquarters or to the special envoys working in the area.
The UN Friday admitted "lapses of judgment and failures in communication," but denied intentionally misleading Israel.
Enlisting the cooperation of the World Health Organization to analyze the bloodstains to determine whether the blood belonged to the soldiers or their captors was among the proposals offered by the United Nations to the governments of both Israel and Lebanon.
The UN has already offered copies of the videotape to both Beirut and Tel Aviv, with the faces of the resistance fighters obscured.
Seven of the 51 objects recovered from the vehicles, including a military belt and a floor mat, have been transported to New York, said report author Joseph Connor, the UN undersecretary general for management.
The whereabouts of soldiers Benny Avraham, Omar Swaid and Adi Avitan remain a mystery despite exhaustive efforts by the UN, humanitarian organizations and their families.
"We want to know what has happened to our children... We have suffered enough," said Chaim Avraham, father of Benny, from Washington Thursday.
The families of the Israeli POWs met Thursday night in Washington with Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and four senior senators, reported Haaretz.
Following the meeting, two of the senators published a statement demanding that the soldiers be treated well and that their families be told of their whereabouts. Also taking part in the meeting was Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg.
The chairman of the foreign relations committee, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, promised to work towards obtaining information on the soldiers and blamed Hizbollah for violating international laws.
According to Reuters, Connor's report concluded there was no collusion between UNIFIL peacekeepers and Hizbollah in the operation.
UN chief Annan, who himself denied the existence of the videotapes to Israel, announced he was moving quickly to change UN operations and procedures.
Hizbollah, which spearheaded the resistance that forced Israel to end its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon a year ago, insists the Shabaa region is Lebanese and that Israel also needs to withdraw from that area. The movement is supported in this stand by the Beirut government and Arab countries.
The United Nations disagrees, saying maps show the Shabaa Farms are part of Syria and that Hizbollah's “kidnapping” of the Israelis violated the frontier or "Blue Line" UN personnel had demarcated to verify Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.
Hizbollah wants to swap the prisoners for hundreds of Lebanese and other Arabs in Israeli jails. Efforts to mediate, especially by Germany, have so far failed – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
