Disappearance of Ron Arad
Ron Arad | |
|---|---|
 Picture of Ron Arad taken by Amal militants in 1987. | |
| Born | May 5, 1958 Hod HaSharon |
| Died | ??? |
| Allegiance | Israel |
| Service | Israeli Air Force |
| Years of service | 1976-1986 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel Captain at the time of his capture |
Lieutenant Colonel Ron Arad (Template:Lang-he) (born May 5, 1958), is an Israeli Air Force weapon systems officer (WSO) who is officially classified as missing in action since October 1986, but widely presumed dead. Arad was lost on a mission over Lebanon, captured by Shiite group Amal and was later handed over to the Hezbollah.
Personal life
Arad was born on 5 May 1958 in Hod HaSharon, Israel. He studied in the Boarding Command School in Tel Aviv. Arad began military service in the Israel Defense Forces in 1978 and graduated from the IAF flight course in 1979 as a combat navigator.
In October 1986 Arad began studying chemical engineering at the Technion in Haifa.
Arad was married to Tami and was a father to a daughter named Yuval.
Capture
On October 16, 1986, Arad and pilot Yishai Aviram were on a mission to attack PLO targets near Sidon, Lebanon. A bomb dropped by their F-4 Phantom II apparently exploded prematurely, causing damage to the aircraft and forcing both crewmen to eject. Aviram was located by an Israeli Bell AH-1 Cobra a few hours later, and escaped by clinging to one of its landing skids as it flew away while under heavy enemy fire, but Arad was captured by the Lebanese Shi'ite militia Amal.
Arad was brought to Beirut and held by the then head of security of Amal, Mustafa Dirani. The leader of Amal, Nabih Berri, announced that he was holding Arad, and proposed an exchange for Shiite and Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.
In 1987, three letters in Arad's handwriting and two photos of a bearded Arad were received, proving Arad was alive. The Israeli government negotiated for his release, but talks failed in 1988. After this time, credible information about Arad has been hard to discover, though unsubstantiated claims of new information are made regularly.
To gain further insight on his whereabouts, Israeli commandos kidnapped Hezbollah member Abdel Karim Obeid in 1989, and Mustafa Dirani in 1994.[1] The Israeli government claimed they were being held in order to find out information about Arad. During his interrogation by military officers, Dirani reportedly disclosed that on 4 May 1988, Arad had been turned over first to a Hezbollah unit and then to Iranian Revolutionary Guards who were in Lebanon at the time aiding Hezbollah guerrillas, where he may have been taken to Iran. But neither Iran nor any guerrilla group ever offered any useful information about his fate. Karim-Obeid and Dirani were released in 2004 as part of a prisoner swap. No information on Arad's fate was released after the swap.
In 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon revealed that an intelligence agent had been killed during efforts to retrieve Arad. In December 2003, an organization seeking information about Arad issued a reward of 10 million dollars to anyone who brings such information.
In 2004, Israeli military intelligence formed a secret commission to investigate Arad's fate, and in 2009, it determined that Arad was dead. According to the report, Arad had been transferred to Iran in 1990, where he was held by the Revolutionary Guard in strict secrecy and in complete isolation. Arad was transferred back to Lebanon following the capture of Mustafa Dirani, after the Iranians feared that Dirani would implicate them. The report stated that Arad died in the mid-1990s after he became gravely ill and was refused medical treatment, and was buried in the Beqaa Valley. While the majority of the committee members concluded that he had died in early 1995, others said that he probably died in late 1996 or early 1997. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by stating that Israel would continue to work under the assumption that Arad was alive, unless there was "conclusive evidence" that he was dead.[2][3][4]
In 2005, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that in the early 1990s, Israel offered Iran $10 billion and to help Iran negotiate a compromise with the United States over $5 billion in Iranian assets frozen after the 1979 Iranian revolution in exchange for information on Arad. The report also revealed that when Iran was negotiating long-term loans with western European countries to prevent economic collapse, Israeli intelligence closely followed the negotiations and discovered a strategy of deceit used by Iranian negotiators to get better rates and longer terms out of European lenders by telling them that other lenders had offered better rates and longer terms. Israel threatened to expose this information if Arad was not released, and when Iran refused, Israel exposed this information. Negotiations were halted, and Israel made clear that it was behind the leak, and warned that as long as Arad was not released, it would expose more embarrasing information on Iran.[5]
In 2006, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, publicly stated that Hezbollah believed Arad to be dead and his remains lost. This marked the first time they have publicly acknowledged their lack of knowledge about his whereabouts.
On August 28, 2006, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation broadcast new footage of Arad. The footage was believed to have been shot in 1988.
In October 2007, Israel received a two-decade old letter written by Arad to his family.
On June 29, 2008, United Nations negotiator Gerhard Konrad informed the Israeli government that according to Hezbollah, Arad had been killed during an escape attempt in 1988.[6]
In a news conference on July 2, 2008, held by Hassan Nasrallah, he stated that his group conducted a detailed investigation into the fate of the missing Israeli navigator. The investigation spanned three years, and included in-depth interviews with prominent figures in Lebanon. He declined to indicate the findings of the investigation, but stated that a written report was handed to the United Nations representative mediating between the Lebanese group and the Israelis.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/UN/unres638.html
- ^ http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330954872&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
- ^ "Missing for 23 Years: Secret Israeli Report Reveals Truth about Ron Arad's Fate - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International". Spiegel.de. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ "MI report says Ron Arad died in '95 - Israel News, Ynetnews". Ynetnews.com. 1986-10-16. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3188619,00.html
- ^ "German negotiator informs Israel missing aviator is dead (Roundup)". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
External links
- ICMIS bio on Ron Arad
- Story of Ron Arad
- Archive of news articles
- Ron Arad - Reward: A site that offers a $10,000,000 reward for any proven information leading to Ron Arad.
- Ron Arad News, Israeli newspaper with online reports about Ron Arad.
- Ron Arad on Lebanese TV? - Ynet article & video clip aired on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
- Israel obtains two-decade-old letter from missing navigator