A Christmas of Contrasts : Son of Hostage in Beirut Sees Hopes for the Season Dashed

On Christmas morning, presents were strewn under the tree at the Jacobsen home in Huntington Beach. But the tree was undecorated, save for a couple of trinkets.

Eric Jacobsen has not had time to fully celebrate the holidays because his wife, Cathy, was hospitalized for six days last week after an asthma attack. And there has been another distraction--the fate of his father, David P. Jacobsen, who remains a hostage in Beirut.

The elder Jacobsen, administrator of American University Hospital in Beirut, was kidnaped May 28 by gunmen belonging to the Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War). He and three other Americans are still being held hostage in the war-torn Lebanese capital.

During the past six weeks, Terry Waite, the British envoy of the archbishop of Canterbury, has three times tried to secure the release of the four Americans. Last Friday, Waite flew to Beirut and tried to persuade the captors to release them in time to celebrate Christmas with their families.

But those hopes were dashed on Christmas Eve when Waite returned without success to London. Still, the envoy promised to return to Beirut in the next few days and renew attempts to gain the Americans’ release.

For Eric Jacobsen, normally a quiet, unassuming man who has made himself easily accessible to the news media, Waite’s Christmas efforts had raised hopes that he, his brother, Paul, and sister, Diane, would finally be reunited with their father.

“We were pretty hopeful, a little too hopeful,” he said. “I was hoping the phone would ring in the middle of the night with the good news. For the first time, I was disappointed that I didn’t get my sleep interrupted.”

However, Jacobsen had much to be thankful for this Christmas, despite the ordeal of his father’s captivity halfway around the world.

“We’re all really tired at this point,” Jacobsen said, sitting on the couch in his apartment. “But I think this Christmas has really strengthened my faith and I know that God is watching over us. We have to feel confident that it will work out.”

Not Been Harmed

Part of the confidence, aside from Waite’s persistent attempts to free the hostages, is derived from the knowledge that Jacobsen’s father and the three other Americans have not been harmed by their Muslim captors.

“They continue not to harm those men and that means that they don’t want to harm them,” Jacobsen said.

Recently, Jacobsen and his brother, Paul, wrote a song in tribute to the four American hostages. He has recorded the song, called “When the Word Comes,” and MCA Records will release the single next month in hopes of drawing more attention to the hostages’ plight.

On the record, Jacobsen sings the lyrics in a strong but tender voice, with subdued passion:

“ Never let go. Hold on to a single prayer. God only knows freedom is so near. When the word comes, they’ll already be bound home, safe and sound. When the word comes and we’ll be done waiting and praying.”

Jacobsen said he still hopes that Waite--who twice before has successfully negotiated the safe release of kidnaped British citizens in Iran and in Syria--would ultimately win the freedom of the four hostages.

Besides his father, the Americans held captive include Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent of the Associated Press; Father Lawrence Renco, a Roman Catholic priest, and Thomas Sutherland, American University’s dean of agriculture.

Waite, upon arriving in London after his latest attempt to have the Americans released, said he and the captors were not “deadlocked” in their negotiations. He stressed that the situation was still difficult but said he foresaw the possibility of “a really constructive development” in the next few days.

Back in Orange County, Jacobsen said he would continue to place his hopes for the safe release of his father in Waite’s efforts.

“I just don’t know what we’re going to do if he does fail,” Jacobsen said. “That’s something I prefer not to think about at this point. But I want to feel that the U.S. government is pursuing every other channel for their release.”

President Reagan, in a letter to the Jacobsen family that arrived on Christmas Eve, told them that the State Department was working to secure the safe release of the four Americans.

“Please be assured that we continue (efforts), in every way we can, to lift (the) burden from your hearts and gain the release of all those held hostage in Lebanon,” the President wrote.