The Situation

Ron Arad, 17 years ago

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Goddess, Take this Land, acrylics on paper, 50x65, by Silvia Rosenberg

Another public opinion poll released today showed that while half the Israeli public opposes the Geneva Accords, a third do support it – even before the organizers of the agreement begin their planned public relations campaign to disseminate it to every household in the country. The Israel Radio poll also showed that half the public is against the planned prisoner exchange deal with the Hezbollah if it does not include, at the very least, information about Ron Arad. Education Minister Limor Livnat said today that she plans to insist at the next cabinet meeting that the ministers be fully informed about the deal before they are asked to decide whether to go ahead with it, as promised by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Today is the 17th anniversary of Arad’s capture by Amal forces in south Lebanon. They turned him over to Mustafa Dirani, who then turned him over to Iranian revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, at which point, Arad’s whereabouts turned murky and then murkier until now it is not even clear if he is alive. Dirani was kidnapped by Israel more than a decade ago, as a bargaining card for the release of the captured air force navigator and Israel has now reportedly reached the conclusion that holding Dirani no longer contributes to getting Arad or information about him. The Arad family campaign against freeing Dirani and against going ahead with the deal without getting some information about Arad’s fate will climax tonight in a rally in Tel Aviv at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art plaza, a much smaller locale than Rabin plaza at city hall.

The Palestinian ambush of the American convoy is also in the news today. Eight Palestinians have so far been arrested in Gaza, said to be ex-Fateh members and members of the ‘Popular Resistance Committee,’ the umbrella grouping for all armed militias that sprouted during the intifada. The PRC denied they belonged to it, as have Hamas and the Popular Fronts.

Jibril Rajoub, head of Yasser Arafat’s National Security Council, told Israel Radio that “I am sure 100 percent we will be able in the coming days to reach those who planned and executed the attack.” Prodded over the fact that the attack came only a few hours after he vehemently attacked the U.S. government for its veto of a security council resolution against the separation fence, he said “I said and say that the U.S. needs to have a fair policy that can bridge between the two sides and help the two sides but it is clear that the veto and the statements by the State Department, and the support for Israel’s positions, is not fair and does not help the situation … but we don’t have any problem with the Americans, even though their policy is not to our liking, they are not pat of the occupation. We are against the Israeli occupation; we prefer to put an end to the occupation without violence, without bloodshed … we’re under occupation, we’re being killed, we’re suffering, the feeling against the Americans is not very positive. The Americans will have to cooperate with us and we will cooperate with them. I’m sure we can provide them security to investigate and we will cooperate 100 percent.”

Asked about the ongoing political crisis in the Palestinian Authority, and how it will influence the security situation and Arafat’s future, he lashed out at Israel Radio’s reporter for even asking. “I recommend, stop talking nonsense. Your problem is the occupation, stop talking about Arafat, relevant, irrelevant. We can improve relations – your problem is the occupation. We’re your neighbors, it’s with us you have to make a deal, we don’t need the Americans or anyone else, but if you want to exploit a terror act (the Gaza ambush) to take action against Arafat, you’re wrong. Improve relations with your neighbors. Only we can give you security.”

Also in the territories, the IDF allowed some 500 religious Jews, led by former chief rabbi Mordechai Eliahu, to visit and pray at the Nablus site known as Joseph’s Tomb. For the last three years of the intifada, the IDF has been forced to play cat and muse games with individual and small groups of religious Jews who tried, on their own, to reach the site in the Palestinian city. Under Oslo, Israel was allowed to maintain a small security presence at the site, to protect religious Jews who wanted to pray and study Torah at the site they believe to be the burial place of the Biblical Joseph. But with the intifada, the Israelis withdrew from the site, and even now with an IDF presence in and around Nablus, the army is loathe to allow civilian Israelis into the area out of fear for their safety and no real willingness to deploy dozens of troops to safeguard a handful of people. Today’s move was seen in the context of the Sukkot holiday, and not as a new policy.

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