Re: Court Blocks Israeli Military from Declaring MIAs Dead

Date: June 24, 2004

One may wonder what the issue of Israeli MIA soldiers and the fight of families to block what we, in the US call PFOD, has to do with American POWs and MIAs.

The IDF battle with families is remiscent of the battle between US families and various Administrations, Review Boards and Service Branch Secretaries over the years. How can we forget the bleak Carter years, with the mass PFODs and the families being told to provide proof the men were still alive. Of families being told to "get on with their lives" and "shut up and sit down." Once again it simply shows that regardless of the country, the government or the war, the issue of POWs and MIAs is one that haunts everyone.

"Court blocks IDF from declaring deaths of soldiers from Sultan Yakub battle

By Ellis Shuman  June 22, 2004IDF tank commander Yehuda Katz and two other IDF soldiers have been missing in action since a 1982 battle at Sultan Yakub in Lebanon.

Missing soldiers from Sultan Yakub battle to be declared dead

Lebanese remains may be Israeli soldiers from 1982 battle

The High Court of Justice yesterday ordered the IDF to refrain from declaring soldiers Yehuda Katz, Zvi Feldman and Zecharia Baumel, who have been missing since a fierce battle with the Syrians in June 1982, as killed in action and their burial place unknown. Katz's family accused IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Yisrael Weiss, who has the sole authority to determine the fate of the missing soldiers, of misleading past and present chief rabbis.

When Weiss reached his decision to declare the three soldiers dead, the Baumel and Feldman families were willing to accept it, but the Katz family was not, Haaretz reported. The family petitioned the High Court against IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Gil Regev, and the IDF chief rabbi.

The Katzes, who believe their son may still be alive and held in Syria, claim that Weiss misled the chief rabbis and therefore his decision was "superficial and tendentious." The family said the rabbis were only presented with part of the evidence, with the intent of misleading them and that they did not see "evidence in the army's possession that contradicts the conclusion that Yehuda is no longer living," Haaretz reported.

In order to reach his decision on the soldiers' fate, Weiss consulted with former chief rabbis Ovadia Yosef, Avraham Shapira, Aharon Rakefet, Mordechai Eliyahu and present chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar. They all approved Weiss's decision, but Eliyahu has withdrawn his support due to the petition and some of the other rabbis have voiced reservations, Haaretz reported.

High Court justices Yaakov Turkel, Miriam Naor and Jonathan Adiel yesterday upheld the Katz family's petition, ordering the IDF to refrain from declaring Yehuda Katz dead for a period of six months. The High Court also granted the related petition of Haaretz to lift the gag order from the hearings and petitions on this case.

In February, when news of the impending IDF ruling leaked to the media, Baumel said he had different information, including from Syrian sources, suggesting that his son is still alive. "The information was received in the last few months following a private initiative on our part, and is now being checked carefully. We hope to publish this information soon," he told ynet.

In commentary published today by the Jerusalem Post, Stuart H. Ditchek, executive director of the Committee for the Release of Zachary Baumel, wrote that the IDF had ignored testimony of a reporter who had seen the three soldiers and their tank being paraded through the streets of Damascus on the day of the Sultan Yakub battle.

"If they were seen alive in Damascus later that day, how could they have been killed in Sultan Yakub several hours earlier?" Ditchek wrote. "In the Sultan Yakub case the Syrians lied, the IDF, I believe, covered up and the families were left without a future."

Ditchek said that he had presented the Syrian government and the U.S. State Department with "confidential information that Zecharia was alive and being held incommunicado in Syria. Obviously, the specifics of that information must remain secret as it came from sources that would be highly at risk should they be revealed," he wrote. The Syrian government canceled scheduled meetings with Baumel and Ditchek and refused to further discuss the issue.

Contradictory reports on fate of soldiers

Katz, Feldman and Baumel were among a number of Israeli soldiers reported missing in action following the June 11, 1982 battle. Twenty Israeli soldiers were killed in Sultan Yakub, which is considered one of the IDF's most tragic and difficult battles. Two captured Israelis, Hezi Shai and Aryeh Lieberman, were later freed in prisoner exchanges in 1984 and 1985.

Several hours after the battle, Time Magazine, the Associated Press and La Stampa reported that three Israeli prisoners were put on display in a "victory march" in Damascus. The account was also reported by the Syrian media and western diplomats. Through the 1980s, reports continued to surface suggesting that the three Israeli soldiers were still alive and being held captive in Syria. On the other hand, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command claimed in 1991 that the three had been killed in the battle.

In 1993, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat delivered half of Baumel's IDF dogtag to Jacques Nerieh, adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Arafat promised that more information would be forthcoming, but nothing further was heard on the issue from him.

International Coalition for Missing Israeli Soldiers: http://www.mia.org.il/

© 2001-2004 Koret Communications Ltd. "