Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer announced Thursday night that United Nations officials last Friday acknowledged the existence of a video tape with information on the capturing of three Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah fighters in the occupied Shabaa farms in south Lebanon October 7, 2000, reported Haaretz.
Israeli security sources suspect the tape has scenes recorded immediately after the abduction.
In a strongly worded letter, the government demanded that the United Nations immediately transfer the tape to Israel, said the paper.
Meanwhile, an Israeli company that acquired excerpts from the United Nations videotape with footage related to the operation claims to possess more footage, added Haaretz in its Internet edition Friday.
Shlomi Afrayat, owner of Topline in Kiryat Shmona, was quoted as telling Israel Radio on Friday morning that the company has more pictures and information from the videotape and that much can be learned from the unpublished material.
He also said that the videotape the UN possesses was obtained after the kidnappings by various media outlets, among them Syrian and Lebanese sources.
Israeli officials had insisted for months that the cassette existed, but the UN adamantly rejected the claim. According to Ben-Eliezer, information about the existence of the tape was leaked from New York.
While it is still unclear what the recording contains, two pictures, showing UN tow trucks removing two vehicles used by the Hizbollah guerrillas during the kidnapping were shown last night on both Israeli television news channels.
"The scene was taped 18 hours after the abduction of the three soldiers,” said Timor Goksel, spokesman for UNIFIL (UN interim force in Lebanon) peacekeepers in south Lebanon. "It contains footage of abandoned vehicles Hizbollah used in the attack," he added.
"Inside the vehicles, UN peacekeepers found UN insignia, uniforms and license plates along with weapons and explosives," Goksel said.
In an interview with the daily Asafir earlier in the week, Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the German mediators have been given a Plan by his group that will be discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during his visit to Germany, which took place Thursday.
Hizbollah have a fourth POW, reportedly a senior Mossad agent who was dragged into Lebanon. Israel says that Elhanan Tannenbaum is an ordinary businessman – Albawaba.com
