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Missing IAF navigator Ron Arad, who plane went down over Lebanon in 1986. (Archives)
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Last update - 20:54 22/10/2007
Hezbollah gave Israel letter from MIA Ron Arad as part of swap deal
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

Hezbollah transferred to Israel a letter written by missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad as part of the exchange carried out last week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed on Monday.

The Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported earlier Monday that Arad's wife, Tami, was given the letter by the prime minister's coordinator for missing soldiers, Ofer Dekel, when she met with him last Thursday at the Israel Defense Forces compound in Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah handed the letter over to Israel as part of the recent prisoner exchange deal. The group also gave Israel a previously unreleased photograph of the missing navigator and excerpts from Hezbollah's report on his captivity.
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Speaking from Paris, where he was meeting with French leaders on Monday, Olmert said the letter was "very moving, though I haven't read it because it is personal."

The prime minister refused to say whether the letter sheds any new light on what became of Arad after his capture. He also would not discuss his expectations for a future prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah.

Tami Arad, who was visibly emotional when she received the letter, confirmed that the handwriting belonged to her husband and that in the note he referred to nicknames they used for one another.

In the first swap since the Second Lebanon War, Israel last week released an ailing Hezbollah fighter as well as the bodies of two others, in exchange for the remains of an Israeli civilian who drowned two years ago off the coast of the north and whose body was swept into Lebanese waters.

The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar had claimed immediately after the deal was carried out that Hezbollah gave Israel documents written in Arad's handwriting as part of the exchange, but the report was never confirmed.

According to a separate deal set in 2004, Hebzollah had promised to supply reliable information about Arad's fate in exchange for Israel's release of Samir Kuntar, who murdered the Haran family in Nahariya in 1979.

Ron Arad was abducted on October 16, 1986 by members of the Shi'ite militant group Amal after they shot his plane down over the Lebanese city Sidon.

Related articles:

  • Information from Hezbollah did not reveal Ron Arad's fate
  • Israel frees one of 5 Hezbollah guerillas, two bodies of militants
  • Gideon Levy: Close the Arad file
  • ANALYSIS: Swap is at most a mutual gesture of goodwill
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      1.   Israeli soldiers are dead 11:21  |  Jonathan S 22/10/07
      2.   @0 years fror a humanitarian gesture from the army of Allah -- 11:29  |  PETER S .M. 22/10/07
      3.   Ron Arad could be dead 12:01  |  Chris Linthwaite 22/10/07
      4.   STRENGTH OF HEZBOLLAH GIVEN BY ISRAEL! 12:42  |  NAD 22/10/07
      5.   His poor wife and daughter 12:48  |  sh 22/10/07
      6.   criminals 12:51  |  Tina 22/10/07
      7.   STRENGTH OF HEZBOLLAH GIVEN BY ISRAEL! 12:59  |  NAD 22/10/07
      8.   This just goes to show.... 13:03  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      9.   Thank you 13:19  |  Jackie 22/10/07
      10.   ARAD 13:29  |  A K 22/10/07
      11.   Chris Linthwaite 13:47  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      12.   NO SOLDIERS 3, NO RELEASE! 13:57  |  NEIL GOLAN 22/10/07
      13.   Wrong Language Used 14:02  |  Walid 22/10/07
      14.   It took them 21 years to post a letter to his wife, animals. 14:05  |  Allon 22/10/07
      15.   HEY , #13 WALID , THE BUCK STOPS HERE! 14:14  |  NEIL GOLAN 22/10/07
      16.   If they had the letter, how do they NOT know what happened to him 14:27  |  McQueen 22/10/07
      17.   Heartless & calculated cruelty 14:44  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 22/10/07
      18.   "neil golan" - who is the killer? 14:59  |  Imad 22/10/07
      19.   Any arabs prisoners in Israeli jails must receive 15:01  |  Joseph E . 22/10/07
      20.   Margie 15:11  |  Walid 22/10/07
      21.   roni aradi 15:14  |  juan solana 22/10/07
      22.   Neil Golan 15:17  |  Walid 22/10/07
      23.   # 13 Walid 15:25  |  Lynn 22/10/07
      24.   Walid dithers and blathers 15:52  |  peter 22/10/07
      25.   Walid @ Beirut 15:52  |  Joseph E . 22/10/07
      26.   Alon 15:55  |  Walid 22/10/07
      27.   #18 Imad - NO MERCY for Infidels who believe in the Creator 16:04  |  Linda Rivera 22/10/07
      28.   #18 Imad 16:12  |  Sol 22/10/07
      29.   #18 Imad - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Call for the MURDER of ALL JEWS 16:14  |  Linda Rivera 22/10/07
      30.   # 23 Lynn 16:36  |  Saa 22/10/07
      31.   # 13 16:39  |  saa 22/10/07
      32.   What sadistic people 17:12  |  KUTW 22/10/07
      33.   Walid #26 17:13  |  Leila 22/10/07
      34.   Saa 17:13  |  Walid 22/10/07
      35.   20.Walid 17:14  |  KUTW 22/10/07
      36.   1.Jonathan S: Israeli soldiers 17:19  |  KUTW 22/10/07
      37.   Walid surfs and wipes out 17:23  |  peter 22/10/07
      38.   10A K: Arad 17:23  |  KUTW 22/10/07
      39.   Israeli Estremists 17:26  |  Double Click 22/10/07
      40.   Joseph E 17:43  |  Walid 22/10/07
      41.   Joseph E; again 17:48  |  Walid 22/10/07
      42.   to Imad # 18 17:57  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      43.   Letter and documents are `Smoking guns` 18:04  |  Chick 22/10/07
      44.   Leila 18:07  |  Walid 22/10/07
      45.   Joseph E: Secrets Secrets 18:26  |  Walid 22/10/07
      46.   to WALID 18:28  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      47.   Lebanese Abductees at Camp 1391 18:31  |  Walid 22/10/07
      48.   abducted V captured 18:34  |  Sam (UK) 22/10/07
      49.   to Double click 18:48  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      50.   Sam(UK) projects and slithers 18:52  |  peter 22/10/07
      51.   to Walid # 47, I think 19:11  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      52.   Judah N. Wenkel 19:14  |  Walid 22/10/07
      53.   Peter 19:25  |  Walid 22/10/07
      54.   #27;28;29;42 - The truth hurt 19:54  |  Imad 22/10/07
      55.   to NAD, # 7 19:57  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      56.   Arad was bombing them when they captured him, right? 20:03  |  Natallie Durson 22/10/07
      57.   to NAD # 7, clarifying myself. 20:03  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      58.   To Natallie Durson # 56 - Killer Rocks 20:47  |  Dagma 22/10/07
      59.   #56 natallie dunhead you would be from California 21:14  |  Chick 22/10/07
      60.   Walid and shmaltz herring 21:28  |  peter 22/10/07
      61.   #56, Durson 22:11  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 22/10/07
      62.   To Walid and Peter 22:27  |  Gus the Lebanese 22/10/07
      63.   sweet Gus deserves what he makes up 22:42  |  peter 22/10/07
      64.   #56: officers in captivity 22:48  |  zvi 22/10/07
      65.   #29 - Hate Mongers 22:54  |  Double Click 22/10/07
      66.   to Gus the lebanese 23:19  |  Judah N. Wenkel 22/10/07
      67.   imad "who is the killer" 23:23  |  dami 22/10/07
      68.   LOOKS like the Arabs have murdered another Israeli P.O.W. 02:00  |  PETER.SM 23/10/07
      69.   30 Saa 02:19  |  Lynn 23/10/07
      70.   Gus the Lebanese 04:59  |  Lynn 23/10/07
      71.   #13, Walid.... 05:10  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      72.   #17, Margie 05:11  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      73.   #27, Linda Rivera, and your post is relevant how? 05:14  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      74.   #38, peter is outdone by Walid`s factual post... 05:16  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      75.   #39, Double Click... 05:18  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      76.   #46, Judah N. Wenkel... 05:20  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      77.   #50, peter, posing and posting... 05:23  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      78.   #58, Dagma to Natallie Durson 05:32  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
      79.   Silvienne bobbing for.... 08:45  |  peter 23/10/07
      80.   #79, peter, did your post have any relevant content? 18:47  |  Silvienne 23/10/07
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