Israel on Thursday released five Lebanese detainees who were arrested in recent months in an effort to secure the return of Lebanese Jewish community leaders’ remains, the Prime Minister’s Office reported.
“As part of negotiations with Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed officials to advance efforts to locate and return the bodies of leaders of Lebanon’s Jewish community – martyrs who were abducted and murdered by terrorist organizations in the mid-1980s,” it said.
The released detainees are not members of Hezbollah or affiliated with it. They are civilians who were detained during fighting, it added.
Israel recently asked Lebanon to provide “concrete information” and take specific steps to help locate the bodies of the “12 Royal Martyrs,” Jewish community leaders murdered by several terrorist organizations during the 1980s, according to two Israelis familiar with the matter.
Israel’s requests to the Lebanese side were made in coordination with US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, one of the sources told The Jerusalem Post.
A year ago, Israel also released five Lebanese detainees who were captured during fighting as part of negotiations with Lebanon.
Israel has provided Lebanese officials with maps and photographs of cemeteries and other potential sites where the remains may be located. Lebanese authorities were asked to examine the locations and investigate whether they could contain the victims’ remains.
Israel, Lebanon negotiating exchange of civilians with remains of Jews buried in Lebanese cemeteries
A “civilian prisoner exchange deal” was being negotiated between Israel and Lebanon, with Israeli officials raising the possibility of transferring the remains of Jews buried in Lebanese cemeteries to Israel, Beirut-based newspaper Al Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah and is pro-Iranian, reported on August 10.
The issue arose during discussions over Lebanese prisoners and detainees held by Israel, the report said. It concerned people classified by Israel as civilians whose affiliation with Hezbollah was not known but who nevertheless posed a threat to IDF troops and were therefore detained, it added.
The Israeli representatives specifically referred to what Al-Akhbar described as a significant number of remains buried in Jewish cemeteries in Beirut and Sidon.
The latest report on the talks between Lebanon and Israel was described by sources to the Post as “positive,” with both Israeli and Lebanese military personnel attending the negotiations in Rome.
The discussions, involving senior Israeli and Lebanese officials, have focused in part on the possibility of locating the bodies and transferring them to Israel.
Israel’s delegation includes Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, National Security Council Adviser Shmuel Ben-Ezra, and Coordinator for Prisoners and Missing Persons Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch.
Hirsch also participated in the latest round of talks that were held in Rome.
Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad is also playing a key role in the discussions, according to people familiar with the matter.
The effort comes amid broader contacts between Israel and Lebanon. Washington is helping to facilitate dialogue between the sides.
What do the 12 royal martyrs have to do with Israel-Lebanon talks?
The issue remains particularly sensitive given the circumstances surrounding the Jewish leaders’ disappearance and deaths during the Lebanese Civil War and a period of intense terrorist activity.
“There is still a long way to go, but this is a good start,” another source familiar with the discussions told the Post.
The intelligence file concerning the “12 Lebanese Royal Martyrs” was assembled before the latest rounds of talks between Israel and Lebanon began. Hirsch and members of the security establishment compiled the file, which includes intelligence, aerial photographs, and other material that could help identify the burial sites of the Jewish victims murdered in Lebanon.
To advance the issue, senior Israeli officials demanded that Clause 13, which addresses the need to promote efforts to locate the victims, be included in any agreement with Lebanon.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has made the matter one of the central issues in the talks with the Lebanese,” an Israeli source told the Post.
Hirsch remains in direct contact with the families of the “Lebanese Royal Martyrs” and recently met with a relative of one of the victims.
Idan Kweller and Shir Perets contributed to this report.