Hizbullah stresses Ron Arad no longer alive
Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar reports Shiite organization has no new information on missing Israeli navigator. In cabinet discussion on prisoner swap deal, Mossad chief rejects Hizbullah's information as 'not serious'
The prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hizbullah, approved by the cabinet on Sunday, includes an agreement that the Shiite organization would deliver a report specifying the steps taken in an attempt to locate Arad.
According to the Lebanese report, the Hizbullah document contains details pertaining to the search process conducted by the organization in Lebanon and outside the country, as well as evidence collected from various sources in a bid to inquire into the missing navigator's fate.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday of a bitter argument that broke out between Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Ofer Dekel, the prime minister's envoy overseeing MIA affairs, during Sunday's cabinet meeting, regarding the information received from Hizbullah on Arad's fate.
During the argument, Dagan said, "We have not utilized this issue to the fullest. We haven’t received any serious information regarding Ron Arad's fate."
Dekel replied, "You have no idea what you are talking about." Dagan answered back, "I have no idea? You have no idea."
Dekel claimed that no additional information on Arad could be received from Hizbullah, but Dagan said that "their information is not serious and incomprehensive."
In January 2006, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah explicitly addressed Arad's fate, saying he believes the missing navigator is no longer alive. Nasrallah said he did not have facts to back his statement, but that this was the logical conclusion.
"My deduction is two words: 'dead and lost,'" he said in an interview on the local New TV station.
The Hizbullah leader recounted an incident in 1989 when Arad was able to escape, saying he may have died in the mountainous countryside of southeastern Lebanon in an accident while fleeing. He speculated that no one had discovered his body.
"A theory is that he escaped. He did not know the mountain area. He fell in a valley, was stuck somewhere and died, with no one knowing about it. This is an analysis," Nasrallah said.
