Copyright 2003 Haaretz
August 28
HEADLINE: Optimism grows as MIA's family meets Red Cross envoy
BYLINE: Yam Yehoshua
The family of one of the Israeli soldiers missing
in action in Lebanon yesterday expressed guarded
optimism after meeting with the head of the
International Committee of the Red Cross'
delegation to Israel.
ICRC delegate Francois Bellon
met with the family of MIA
Benny Avraham for more than an
hour at their Petah Tikva home.
Bellon stressed, however, that
he was not party to the
negotiations, being conducted
by a German envoy. "Bellon is
preparing the ground in case
the negotiations end favorably.
He told us it should take days or weeks, not
months," Haim Avraham, Benny's father, said
afterward. Benny Avraham and two other soldiers
were abducted near the Lebanese border in
October 2000.
Meanwhile the London-based Arabic-language
newspaper Al-Hayat reported yesterday that the
deal being brokered would not include missing
Israeli navigator Ron Arad nor four Iranian
diplomats reportedly being held by Israel.