Copyright 1993 Jerusalem Post
Jerusalem Post
December 8, 1993
HEADLINE: CHRISTOPHER MEETS WITH MIA FAMILIES
BYLINE: Batsheva Tsur
THE US Congressional mission that will investigate the fate of
the six missing Israeli soldiers will leave for Damascus within the
next few weeks, Secretary of State Warren Christopher told the
families of four of the MiAs at a meeting in Jerusalem yesterday.
Christopher met with the parents of Yehuda Katz, Zvi Feldman and
Zecharia Baumel, missing since the battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982,
and separately with Tami Arad, wife of navigator Ron Arad, the IDF
navigator shot down over Lebanon six years ago. He did not meet with
the families of Rahamim Alsheikh and Yossi Fink, whom Arab sources
have said are dead.
"The secretary said he had no new information, but that the
Syrian government has offered to facilitate the investigations of the
congressional team," Yona Baumel, Zacharia's father, told a press
conference after the meeting. "He did not give us the date when the
team would leave, but we expect it will be after the New Year
holidays, Christopher came across as a very warm and humane person."
Baumel said that it was understood the Syrians would provide
logistical assistance to the team and help it make contact with those
who may be holding the MIAs.
"This is more than a sign. It is the first time since June 11,
1982, that a diplomat has brought us good news," said Yossi Katz,
Yehuda's father. "We have waited so long, and I believe the mystery
will now be solved." He said the families had the sense that the
solution would be "positive."
Tami Arad refused to meet the media, saying that "the secretary
of state will speak for me."
Zvi Feldman's mother Pnina asked Christopher to take a letter to
Syrian President Hafez Assad on his return to Damascus.
"My motherly instincts tell me that my son is alive, and I
believe that the only one who can help me now is you, Mr. President,"
she wrote. "I cannot even start describing to you the agony during
these years, day by day ... We are ready to travel anywhere in the
world for a piece of information."
Miriam Baumel told The Jerusalem Post that "we have had to learn
to speak unemotionally in public. Since I couldn't cry over all the
years that my son has been missing, when Zak is in my arms, am I going
to flood him!"
She took to task those persons who are "adamant against contacts
with the PLO," saying: "If they were in our position, I'm sure they'd
think differently. We must not concern ourselves with political
matters, but with the redemption of the prisoners."
Meanwhile, a massive poster campaign has been mounted throughout
the Tel Aviv area by the International Association for Missing Israeli
Soldiers and the National Union of Israeli Students. "In the spirit
of peace, release our boys," say the posters which show the eyes of
the six missing soldiers.
Ads have also been placed in the local press and posters have
been sent to embassies and Jewish institutions in Europe and North
America.