Israelis Deny Beirut Reports They Are Involved in Secret Talks on U.S. Hostages

Israeli officials denied Tuesday that they are involved in negotiations for the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon but hinted again that they might be willing to exchange Arab prisoners for an Israeli airman also believed held captive there.

The officials were reacting to reports broadcast by Beirut radio stations saying that the kidnapers of three Americans and an Indian national are involved in secret talks with Israel after postponing indefinitely their threat to execute the hostages.

Separately, Reuters news agency reported from Beirut that the kidnapers, who call themselves Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, have given the International Red Cross a list of 400 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners, held by Israel, whose freedom they demand.

However, the Reuters report contained what Israeli sources called glaring inaccuracies regarding the numbers of Lebanese prisoners held either by Israel or its South Lebanon Army militia allies. One military source termed it a “trial balloon.”

Uncertain of Identities

And the coordinator of Israeli activities in Lebanon, Uri Lubrani, said in a telephone interview from his Defense Ministry office that he knew nothing of such a list and that he was uncertain both as to the identities of the 400 prisoners and the allegiances of the kidnapers.

Some foreign diplomatic and Israeli sources believe that contrary to popular opinion, the kidnapers are not Lebanese Shia Muslims but Palestinians who share the Shias’ Islamic fundamentalism and who appear to be a growing force both in Lebanon and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip south of the border.

“It’s a typical Lebanese puzzle,” commented a diplomatic source who requested anonymity.

Four professors--three Americans and an Indian who is a permanent resident alien of the United States--were kidnaped Jan. 24 from the Beirut University College campus by the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine. The kidnapers subsequently threatened to execute the four unless Israel released what they referred to specifically as “400 Palestinians.”

Executions Postponed

Five minutes before the midnight Monday deadline for carrying out their threat, the kidnapers said they would postpone the executions because of pleas on the hostages’ behalf and “certain positive points” in a statement made Sunday by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Peres had said that Israel was willing to discuss trading Arab prisoners for an Israeli navigator captured by members of Amal, the Lebanese Shia Muslim militia, when his plane was shot down during a raid on Oct. 16, 1986. The pilot of the downed aircraft was rescued by an Israeli helicopter.

Peres and other top Israeli officials have insisted, however, that they are in no position to negotiate regarding American hostages without a formal request from the United States.

No Request From Washington

“Israel has not received any approach and will not act based on what is published in newspapers,” Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir reiterated Tuesday. “If there is a request from the U.S., Israel will consider its position. But in principle, we should not negotiate with terrorists.”

Peres, meanwhile, said during a visit to the northern port city of Haifa that he doubted that an exchange was feasible.

The leader of the Amal movement in Lebanon, Nabih Berri, proposed a three-way trade last Saturday. In return for freedom for 400 Arab prisoners held by Israel, he said, he would free the captured Israeli navigator and negotiate the release of the four educators.

Peres, however, questioned whether Berri has the power to deliver on his promise and said he saw no point in making an immediate reply to the offer. “Nabih Berri has no source or ability to compel Jihad” to release the four hostages, Peres said.

Prod to Berri

Some observers saw Peres’ comments as intended to prod Berri into making an additional move that might demonstrate both his good will and ability to make a deal.

Beirut radio stations said that the secret negotiations allegedly under way between Israel and the kidnapers were along the lines suggested by Berri.

However, Lubrani of the Defense Ministry told The Times, “I don’t know of any negotiations in which Israel is in any way involved concerning the kidnaped people.”

Asked about negotiations concerning the missing airman, he added: “We have an ongoing effort in any way possible to get our soldiers back when they are prisoners somewhere. But that has nothing to do whatsoever” with the case of the American hostages.

Public Policy

Both Israel and the United States maintain a public stance of not dealing with terrorists. Thus, when the hijackers of Trans World Airlines Flight 847 demanded in June, 1985, that Israel release 760 Lebanese prisoners in return for 39 American hostages from the aircraft, both countries insisted that no such deal was arranged. However, all the Lebanese prisoners were quietly released over a period of several weeks after the Americans were freed.

Complicating the current hostage situation is what appears to be confusion here over the identity and loyalties of the kidnapers.

While “Islamic Jihad” is a name believed to be used frequently by Lebanon’s Shia Muslim extremists, particularly the radical, pro-Iranian Hezbollah (Party of God) organization, this latest group may be different, according to some foreign and Israeli experts on Lebanon.

The addition of the words “for the Liberation of Palestine” to its name and its original demand for the release of “400 Palestinians” suggests that it may be a Palestinian, rather than a Shia group.

Authenticity Questioned

Tuesday’s Reuters report from Beirut said the list given to the Red Cross includes the names of more than 300 Lebanese and about 90 Palestinians. There were questions here about its authenticity, however, since Israel contends that it and its South Lebanon Army allies together hold only about 200 Lebanese prisoners, most of whom are at a detention facility at Khiam in southern Lebanon.

“I doubt if it’s a Shia group,” said Clinton Bailey, an Israeli Arabist and expert on Lebanon.

“What seems more probable . . . is that they’re Palestinians of one group origin or another who are very close to Hezbollah and have been somehow co-opted by Hezbollah. . . . “

A diplomatic source with unusually good contacts in Lebanon reported “strong rumors” there that the group’s members are Palestinian, and therefore members of the Sunni, rather than the Shia, strain of Islam.