Group: Discuss missing soldiers during peace talks with Syria

'As a country and as a Jewish society it is our moral duty to make every effort to bring the soldiers back to their families,' Born to Freedom foundation tells PM Olmert in letter
Tal Rabinovsky

The Born to Freedom foundation sent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a letter Tuesday asking that the issue of the missing and captive IDF soldiers be discussed during the renewed peace talks with Syria.

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The organization, which seeks "to help locate the MIAs and bring them back home to their families, said in the letter "It must be taken into consideration that the Syrians may have vital information on missing soldiers Ron Arad, Guy Hever and the IDF soldiers who went missing during the battle of Sultan Yaakov in the first Lebanon war 26 years ago - Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman.

"We call (on the government) to take advantage of the negotiations to raise this issue, as Syria played a key role in these painful affairs," the letter said. "As a country and as a Jewish society it is our moral duty to make every effort to bring the soldiers back to their families.

"Our working premise is that someone out there knows something about the missing soldiers' fate, and we are tirelessly seeking that one bit of information that will help locate our loved ones or offer details on what happened to them," the foundation wrote Olmert.

Born to Freedom Director General (Res.) Eyal Ben Reuven told Ynet "we must take advantage of this window of opportunity (peace talks) to obtain information, perhaps as a gesture of goodwill on the part of the Syrians."