Israel May Release More Lebanese : 400 in Atlit Prison Reportedly Could Be Freed Tuesday

Israel is expected to begin a phased release later this week of the remaining 735 Lebanese prisoners, most of them Shia Muslims, that it captured in southern Lebanon, government sources here said Sunday.

The sources said that a release plan must still be presented to the government’s “inner Cabinet” of its 10 most senior ministers. But they said that could happen as soon as today and that no opposition is expected to whatever program the Defense Ministry proposes.

There were unconfirmed reports in military circles here that as many as 400 of the detainees might be released as early as Tuesday. But other sources said Israel might want to wait for a few days to free the first batch in order to avoid the appearance of a direct link to the release Sunday of the 39 Americans from TWA Flight 847 who were held hostage in Algiers and Beirut for 16 days.

The TWA hijackers had demanded freedom for the 735 prisoners in return for releasing their American captives. The Arab detainees were captured in southern Lebanon and later transferred across the Israeli border to a military prison camp at Atlit, south of Haifa.

Israel television also reported Sunday night that the Cabinet could decide today on arrangements to return the Lebanese prisoners.

Israeli leaders had no public comment on the release of the Americans. Government ministers spent almost all day Sunday and the early hours of today in a marathon Cabinet meeting on the economy.

“I don’t make any comment on anything as long as the hostages haven’t reached Europe,” said Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin when he emerged briefly from the Cabinet session Sunday afternoon. “Then we’ll see.”

Earlier, Rabin had reported to his fellow ministers on the hostage crisis “and the situation in south Lebanon,” according to Cabinet secretary Yossi Beilin. However, Beilin told newsmen during a midday break in the meeting, “there was no decision whatsoever on this issue today.”

Sunday’s Cabinet discussion occurred before the Americans climbed into cars and station wagons in Beirut for the drive to Damascus and the subsequent flight to Frankfurt, West Germany.

Both Israel and the United States have said publicly there is no linkage between Sunday’s hostage release and any action Israel may now take to free the Atlit prisoners. Israel has said all along that the men were only being detained here temporarily, and more than 600 other Lebanese prisoners were freed prior to the TWA hijacking.

However, Israeli officials acknowledge that there was an “understanding” with the United States that the release of the Americans would enable Israel to resume its program of gradually freeing the Atlit detainees.

“If the hostage situation is resolved to our satisfaction and to the satisfaction of the United States, then there will be a gradual release” of the prisoners, a military source said Sunday.

A government source said Sunday that Rabin is expected to make a specific recommendation to the so-called inner Cabinet, “maybe tomorrow afternoon.” He added that “his recommendation in that situation will be approved.”

Israel has previously linked its release program to the security situation in southern Lebanon, to which most of the Atlit detainees would return. In the last couple of days, security sources have stressed that the area is relatively quiet, which is expected to be Israel’s public justification for resuming any release program.

Israel was originally scheduled to free 340 of the Atlit detainees on June 10, but canceled the release at the last minute for “security reasons” that were never fully explained. Four days later, the TWA plane was hijacked.

Last Monday, 31 Atlit detainees were freed by Israel as a test of the hijackers’ intentions. But that indicates that there are still at least 309 prisoners who have already been cleared for release.