October 16th marked 33 years since Israeli Air Force Navigator Ron Arad was taken captive in Lebanon in 1986 after his plane went down during a bombing mission over southern Lebanon.
By IDAN ZONSHINEMissing IAF navigator Ron Arad in captivity after his jet went down in Lebanon in 1986(photo credit: AFP PHOTO)
October 16th marked 33 years since Israeli Air Force Navigator Ron Arad was taken captive in Lebanon in 1986 after a bombing mission over southern Lebanon. His plane was severely damaged when one of its ordinances prematurely exploded near the aircraft.Although both the pilot and navigator ejected and survived, only pilot Yishai Aviram made it back to Israel. Aviram was found and rescued by the IAF by clinging onto the outside of a helicopter as he was extracted under fire, but Arad lost consciousness during the ejection process and was captured and taken prisoner by Shia militant group Amal.Arad was listed as missing in action by the IDF for 31 years, until two intelligence reports by IDF intelligence and the Mossad claimed he most likely died in captivity. During his imprisonment, three letters and one picture were sent to Israel. However, no contact has been made since 1987, when the Red Cross was last given access to Arad and no Even so, the Israeli government has never officially declared Arad dead, and early on it engaged Arab and Lebanese parties in talks for possible prisoner swaps in order to secure his release. Jewish groups around the world enlisted in the cause and offered substantial monetary prizes for any information leading to Arad’s freedom."We're realists. We know that the chances that he's still alive are small and get smaller with every year that passes. I think now our goal revolves more around what we can learn from his case," said one of Arad's Air Force course mates, Danny Zonshine."Several of us [Arad's course mates and friends] are also working, for example, to help free Avera Mengistu," Zonshine told the Jerusalem Post, referring to the captive Israeli currently in his 6th straight year of captivity by Hamas.Another of Arad's coursemates, Doron Venikov, also commented on the possible lessons we could learn from the tragedy. "In hindsight, Israel's biggest mistake in the handling of Ron's case was probably us not making a deal with Amal during the first two years of his captivity, while we still knew his location.""May of 88 was the last time we had credible information as to his whereabouts, after which the trail went cold." Israel was at the time unwilling to negotiate, following public uproar about the 1985 Jibril Agreement."People really disliked the deal, even though it was relatively small compared to the Gil'ad Shalit deal."Gil'ad Shalit was taken captive in 2006, during the second Lebanon war, and released during a controversial prisoner swap deal in which over 1,000 prisoners were released.
"People can be very critical of the Shalit deal, but out of over a thousand terrorists, only around 30 have been rearrested. That's a rehabilitation rate that most prisons could only dream of."Whether it's a prisoner of war like Ron Arad and Gil'ad Shalit, or a humanitarian case turned political, as is the case with Avera Mengistu and recent alleged drug trafficker Naama Issachar, prisoner negotiations have long been a mainstay in the Israeli news cycle. If we ever want them to go away, we might want to look back and see what we've already learnt.