Secret channels will be used to secure the return of three Israeli soldiers captured by the Lebanese Hizbollah movement in October, said Israeli security sources Sunday.
The sources gave no details on their plans for the return of the prisoners or parties involved.
Meanwhile, they told Israel Radio that a team of Israeli defense officials specialized in locating missing and captured soldiers would go to the UN headquarters in New York this week to examine seven bloodstained items found in the automobiles left at the scene of the kidnapping.
The officers will also view videotapes of the scene following the kidnapping, said the radio, cited by Haaretz newspaper.
But it is not clear which of the three tapes related to the kidnapping they will view, the radio added.
The UN maintains that it will allow Israel to see only a censored version of the video, with the faces of Hizbollah members obscured.
Israel Radio said Sunday morning that Hizbollah continued its refusal to provide information about the condition of the soldiers, despite statements by the UN about the large quantities of blood found in the vehicles.
The radio claimed that Hizbollah sources and officials in Beirut warned UN officials in Lebanon “not to provide the tapes to Israel.”
Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Friday he believed that the three were still alive “despite the UN report’s pessimistic findings that the three were likely gravely injured in their capture and could have succumbed to their injuries.”
"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 captured 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.
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.
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 last 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)
