Lebanese prisoners in Israel
Encyclopedia
Lebanese prisoners in Israel have been a source of contention between Lebanon
and Israel
and were an issue in the 2006 Lebanon War. The number of such detainees is disputed. According to the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah, there are two Lebanese citizens in Israeli prisons, but Israel denies holding them. Hezbollah had demanded the release of Lebanese prisoners as condition for releasing Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser
and Eldad Regev
, captured in the Hezbollah raid which sparked the 2006 Lebanon War. On July 16, 2008, the Israel Prison Service
released five Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the remains of Goldwasser and Regev.
, Shlomo Argov
, by the Abu Nidal Organization, Israel
initiated Operation Peace of the Galilee in June 1982, in order to terminate the military activity of the Palestine Liberation Organization
and Syria
n forces around the Israeli-Lebanese border. With U.S. assistance, Israel and Lebanon reached a withdrawal accord
in May 1983, which was then recalled by Lebanon in March 1984, due to pressure from Syria. In 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops, leaving the South Lebanon Army
, an Israeli-supported Lebanese militia, to protect a security buffer zone
in southern Lebanon, which Israel considered necessary to prevent attacks on its northern territory. Israel relinquished the security zone and withdrew behind the Blue Line
in May 2000.
Hezbollah demanded the release of Samir Kuntar
, Nissim Nasser, and Skaff at the time of the 2004 Israel-Hezbollah prisoner exchange. On June 1, 2008, Nasser was released in exchange for the body parts of Israeli soldiers killed during the 2006 Lebanon war.http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10217887.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5211930.stm Kuntar was released in a prisoner exchange on July 16, 2008.
Commission on Human Rights
by Lebanon's UN permanent representative as having been arrested during the 1982 Israeli occupation of Lebanon and still missing. The allegations are disputed by Israel.
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and were an issue in the 2006 Lebanon War. The number of such detainees is disputed. According to the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah, there are two Lebanese citizens in Israeli prisons, but Israel denies holding them. Hezbollah had demanded the release of Lebanese prisoners as condition for releasing Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser
Ehud Goldwasser
Ehud Goldwasser was an Israeli soldier who was abducted in Israel by Hezbollah along with Eldad Regev on 12 July 2006, sparking the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. His rank was First Sergeant....
and Eldad Regev
Eldad Regev
Eldad Regev was an Israeli soldier, born in Qiryat Motzkin, abducted by Hezbollah members along with Ehud Goldwasser on July 12, 2006, in Israel near the Lebanese border, sparking the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. His rank was Sergeant First Class....
, captured in the Hezbollah raid which sparked the 2006 Lebanon War. On July 16, 2008, the Israel Prison Service
Israel Prison Service
The Israel Prison Service , commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas , is the prison service of Israel. It is responsible for maintaining civilian prisons in Israel, as well as detention centers for security prisoners. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security...
released five Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the remains of Goldwasser and Regev.
Context
Following the attempted assassination of the Israeli Ambassador to the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Shlomo Argov
Shlomo Argov
Shlomo Argov was a prominent Israeli diplomat. He was the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom whose attempted assassination led to the 1982 Lebanon War.-Attempted assassination:...
, by the Abu Nidal Organization, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
initiated Operation Peace of the Galilee in June 1982, in order to terminate the military activity of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n forces around the Israeli-Lebanese border. With U.S. assistance, Israel and Lebanon reached a withdrawal accord
May 17 Agreement
The May 17 Agreement of 1983 was a failed U.S.-backed attempt to create peace between Lebanon and Israel during the Lebanese Civil War, after Israel invaded Lebanon and besieged Beirut in 1982...
in May 1983, which was then recalled by Lebanon in March 1984, due to pressure from Syria. In 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops, leaving the South Lebanon Army
South Lebanon Army
The South Lebanon Army , also "South Lebanese Army," was a Lebanese militia during the Lebanese Civil War. After 1979, the militia operated in southern Lebanon under the authority of Saad Haddad's Government of Free Lebanon...
, an Israeli-supported Lebanese militia, to protect a security buffer zone
Israeli Security Zone
The Israeli Security Zone in southern Lebanon was a strip of territory of varying width, , from the Israeli border and the Golan Heights, occupied by Israeli forces from 1985 to 2000. Additional regions controlled by the South Lebanon Army are sometimes included under the term...
in southern Lebanon, which Israel considered necessary to prevent attacks on its northern territory. Israel relinquished the security zone and withdrew behind the Blue Line
Blue Line (Lebanon)
The Blue Line is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon...
in May 2000.
Persons named by Hezbollah
Hezbollah has named two individuals who it says are Lebanese citizens held in Israeli jails.- Yehia Skaff is accused of participating in the 1978 Coastal Road massacreCoastal Road massacreThe Coastal Road massacre of 1978 was an attack involving the hijacking of a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway in which 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed, and 71 were wounded. The attack was planned by Abu Jihad and carried out by the PLO faction Fatah...
. According to Hezbollah, several former Lebanese detainees said they have seen him in an Israeli prison. Israeli sources said he was killed in the massacre with his body never found.http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3748213,00.html
- Ali Faratan is a fisherman. Hezbollah gave no reason for his alleged detention. Israel denies holding him.
Hezbollah demanded the release of Samir Kuntar
Samir Kuntar
Samir Kuntar is a Lebanese Druze convicted murderer and former member of the Palestine Liberation Front...
, Nissim Nasser, and Skaff at the time of the 2004 Israel-Hezbollah prisoner exchange. On June 1, 2008, Nasser was released in exchange for the body parts of Israeli soldiers killed during the 2006 Lebanon war.http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10217887.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5211930.stm Kuntar was released in a prisoner exchange on July 16, 2008.
Missing persons, according to the Lebanese government
In addition to the above, the following people were listed in a letter dated March 2004 to the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Commission on Human Rights
United Nations Commission on Human Rights
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...
by Lebanon's UN permanent representative as having been arrested during the 1982 Israeli occupation of Lebanon and still missing. The allegations are disputed by Israel.
- Mooussa El Sheikh Selman, from Maarka village. Said to have been arrested on June 8, 1982 and wounded when transported by an ICRCInternational Committee of the Red CrossThe International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
staffer from the rest house of Tyre to the field hospital of the Israeli army near Mealliya. His fate remains unknown.
- Bilal Samadi, said to have been seized on June 4, 1982 with five other persons on the bridge of the AwaliAwaliAwali is a small municipality located approximately in the centre of the Kingdom of Bahrain, a small island in the Persian Gulf. Founded in the 1930s by the Bahrain Petroleum Company, it is populated mostly by workers of various nationalities from around the world whose skills were needed in the...
River following an Israeli ambush.
- Ibrahim Zein El Din, a teacher in [Baaklin] Secondary School. Said to have been seized by the Israeli forces at his fiancée’s house on October 8, 1982 and transferred to the Israeli intelligence center located then in Ras El Jabal in AleyAleyAley is a picturesque town in Mount Lebanon. It is located 17 km uphill from Beirut, just south of the summer resort of Bhamdoun and north of the strategic town of Souk El Gharb.-Demographics:...
(Mount LebanonMount LebanonMount Lebanon , as a geographic designation, is a Lebanese mountain range, averaging above 2,200 meters in height and receiving a substantial amount of precipitation, including snow, which averages around four meters deep. It extends across the whole country along about , parallel to the...
). Two of his friends, Nazih Abou Ajram and Mounir Chami, who were arrested later on, professed to having seen him chained and naked with torture marks on his body.
- Mohamad Said El Jarrar, from Chebaa village. Said to have been seized in 1979 by Israeli forces and imprisoned in Tal Nahas camp, then transferred to Israeli intelligence in Metlli. Toufic Fakhouri, one of the released detainees, has allegedly said to have recognized Mohamad El Jarrar in 1987, in one of the Israeli detention centers located in RamallahRamallahRamallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
.
- Jamil Amhaz. Said to have been kidnapped by the Israeli forces in 1984. According to his family, he is imprisoned in the Chateh jail in Israel. Israel denies this.
- Mohamad Ali Hawa. Said to have been arrested by the Israeli forces in 1984 on Bater crossing in JezzineJezzineJezzine is a town in Lebanon, located from Sidon and south of Beirut. Surrounded by mountain peaks, pine forests, and at an average altitude of 950 m , it is the main summer resort and tourist destination of South Lebanon...
(Lebanon) and taken to the AberAberAber may refer to:in geography:* Aber * Abergwyngregyn, popularly known by the short form "Aber"* Aberystwyth, popularly known by the short form "Aber"* Aber Village in South Walesin transport:...
center. Allegedly, his mother saw him wounded with a bleeding leg.
- Mohamad Ali Gharib is said to have been kidnapped on August 12, 1984 by the Israeli forces on the Bater crossing in Jezzine. He was allegedly transferred to the Homsieh hill then to Israel. His family reported that the freed detainee Ali Noura has reported to have seen him in Atlit Prison in 1985.
- Hassan Ramez Ballout was said to have been arrested in 1984, in his hometown Kfarmelky by the Israeli forces. Ballout allegedly stayed in the Jezzine barracks for eight months and was told to be wounded with infections in his leg. His fate remains unknown.
- Maher Kassir from Deir Kanoun el Naher village. He was allegedly kidnapped by the Israeli forces on June 17, 1984 in the area of the Sciences University located in Chweifat, southern Beirut. His fate is unknown.
- Mohamad El Abouchi from Mina in northern Lebanon. He was said to have been kidnapped in 1990. His family asserts that he is detained in Israel. Israel denies this.
- Jammal Habba from SidonSidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
, southern Lebanon was said to have been kidnapped at the Barbarra checkpoint in 1982. His family asserts that he is in Israel. Israel denies this.
- Samir El Khorfan, a soldier in the Lebanese army is said to have been kidnapped in the Majdalyoun area on October 30, 1983. His fate remains unknown.
Missing persons
People who have been missing since the Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon include:- Hassan Sami Taha
- Hussein Zeid
- Ibrahim Nour el Din
- Mohamad Moallem
- Nizard Ali Merhi
- Souheil Rammal
- Khaled Kachmor
- Khaled Chahine
- Ali Kachmor
- Said Bleibel
- Taleb Abo Raya
- Ahmed Harbawi
Deceased militants allegedly kept in Israel
There are also some former Lebanese militants, now presumed deceased, and alleged to be kept by Israel in secret graves, including:- Yahya El Khaled
- Ayad Kassir
- Hussein Daher
- Elias Harb
- Farjallah Fouaani