Published : 02-04-2021
Former Israeli Security Minister Naftali Bennett revealed a document in Arabic, allegedly written by late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, indicating the place of burial of three Israeli soldiers killed in the battle of Sultan Yaqoub in the Lebanese Bekaa, during the first Israeli war on Lebanon in 1982.
WallaNews, a Tel Aviv-based Hebrew news agency, said that the document contained a detailed map of the cemetery of Palestinian soldiers in the Yarmouk refugee camp, located near the Syrian capital, which was designated for the burial of Palestinian Liberation Organization martyrs who were killed after 1980.
The document also explains that the Syrians mummified Israeli corpses and placed them in fortified coffins in order to preserve them and facilitate the identification of their owners. An accurate description of the location of these graves says, “near the grave of the martyr Abdul Aziz Al-Wajih,” a PLO fighter.
The Israeli report said that Bennett obtained the document and transferred it to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July. The agency quoted a security official as saying that the information presented in the document was already well-known to the intelligence community.
Although the source noted that it was the handwriting of Yasser Arafat, he stressed that more evidence was needed.
“It is very similar to Arafat’s handwriting, but we do not have conclusive evidence of that,” he said.
It is noteworthy that two years ago, Russia sought to mediate between Syria and Israel in order to search for the bodies of Israeli soldiers buried in Syria.
The Russian military and Syrian regime have recently launched excavations in a cemetery at the Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Damascus allegedly in search of the remains of Israeli soldiers who went missing during the First Lebanon War in 1982, Israeli news reported, citing Syrian media.
The missing soldiers are Tzvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, who participated in the First Lebanon War and have been considered missing in action since 1982.
Feldman and Katz were members of late Zechariah Baumel's military unit and fought together in the Battle of Sultan Yacub between Israel and Syria in June 1982. The battle took place in Lebanon, near the Syrian border.
Following the battle that lasted several hours, six soldiers were declared missing in action. Later, it became clear that two of the six were captured by the Syrian army and one was killed in action. The fate of the other three – Feldman, Katz and Baumel – remained unknown.
That changed in April 2019, when the body of Sgt. Zachary Baumel was finally returned to Israel after nearly 37 years. He was identified by his DNA at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute and buried in special ceremony on Mount Herzl attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin.
Former Israeli Security Minister Naftali Bennett revealed a document in Arabic, allegedly written by late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, indicating the place of burial of three Israeli soldiers killed in the battle of Sultan Yaqoub in the Lebanese Bekaa, during the first Israeli war on Lebanon in 1982.
WallaNews, a Tel Aviv-based Hebrew news agency, said that the document contained a detailed map of the cemetery of Palestinian soldiers in the Yarmouk refugee camp, located near the Syrian capital, which was designated for the burial of Palestinian Liberation Organization martyrs who were killed after 1980.
The document also explains that the Syrians mummified Israeli corpses and placed them in fortified coffins in order to preserve them and facilitate the identification of their owners. An accurate description of the location of these graves says, “near the grave of the martyr Abdul Aziz Al-Wajih,” a PLO fighter.
The Israeli report said that Bennett obtained the document and transferred it to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July. The agency quoted a security official as saying that the information presented in the document was already well-known to the intelligence community.
Although the source noted that it was the handwriting of Yasser Arafat, he stressed that more evidence was needed.
“It is very similar to Arafat’s handwriting, but we do not have conclusive evidence of that,” he said.
It is noteworthy that two years ago, Russia sought to mediate between Syria and Israel in order to search for the bodies of Israeli soldiers buried in Syria.
The Russian military and Syrian regime have recently launched excavations in a cemetery at the Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Damascus allegedly in search of the remains of Israeli soldiers who went missing during the First Lebanon War in 1982, Israeli news reported, citing Syrian media.
The missing soldiers are Tzvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, who participated in the First Lebanon War and have been considered missing in action since 1982.
Feldman and Katz were members of late Zechariah Baumel's military unit and fought together in the Battle of Sultan Yacub between Israel and Syria in June 1982. The battle took place in Lebanon, near the Syrian border.
Following the battle that lasted several hours, six soldiers were declared missing in action. Later, it became clear that two of the six were captured by the Syrian army and one was killed in action. The fate of the other three – Feldman, Katz and Baumel – remained unknown.
That changed in April 2019, when the body of Sgt. Zachary Baumel was finally returned to Israel after nearly 37 years. He was identified by his DNA at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute and buried in special ceremony on Mount Herzl attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin.
