Israel Holding On to Infamous Lebanese Inmates

Now that it has pulled out of Lebanon, Israel is under increasing pressure to free its Lebanese prisoners, and the two most notorious appeared at a court hearing to debate their fate Monday--the first time in years that they have been seen in public.

Islamic militants whose fighting led to Israel’s departure from Lebanon last week after two decades are demanding freedom for all prisoners before they will halt their battle against the Jewish state.

But Israel is reluctant.

On Monday, both the government and the military argued in a Tel Aviv district court that two senior Islamic leaders--Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani--should continue to be held in an Israeli prison because they pose a security threat.

State prosecutor Dvora Chen said releasing them now would give incentive to terrorist organizations and afford the two men star status when they returned to Lebanon.

But their Israeli attorney countered that, with Israel having ended a 22-year occupation of Lebanon, it no longer makes sense to imprison the two men, who have been held without trial or formal charges since Israel abducted them from their homes years ago.

“It is time to open a new chapter,” defense lawyer Zvi Rish said.

In a blow to the defense, Judge Uri Goren put off a decision until July 12, extending detention for the two Lebanese by six more weeks. The delay will give parliament time to write a law that will make it easier to hold the men. Such lawmaking is a routine Israeli practice widely condemned by human rights organizations.

Those asking for the men’s release include the United Nations. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, turning aside such pleas, opposes the move.

“In my view,” Barak said in Jerusalem on Monday, “we have to hold on to them for a variety of reasons, and this is not the place to detail what they are.”

As Barak withdrew his nation’s troops from Lebanon last week, the Islamic Hezbollah movement and its allies and supporters moved swiftly into evacuated towns to fill the void. Thus far, the border has remained relatively calm.

But Hezbollah demands for the release of prisoners remain one of the key issues likely to thwart lasting peace. At least 15 Lebanese are being held by Israel, according to the Jewish state; Hezbollah cites a figure twice that.

Obeid, a spiritual leader of Hezbollah, and Dirani, a security chief of the militant Islamic Amal movement, which fought alongside Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, are by far the two most prominent.

Israel kidnapped Obeid in 1989 and Dirani in 1994 and held them as “bargaining chips” to obtain information about missing Israeli soldiers. The Supreme Court banned the practice last month and forced the government to release 13 other Lebanese men held under similar circumstances. But the government maintained that Obeid and Dirani were more than mere bargaining chips and posed a real danger.

So dangerous, in fact, that until Monday, they had not been seen in public. They have been held in isolation, at an undisclosed location, with no visitors except lawyers. Photographs of them were banned and all previous court hearings were held behind closed doors under strict security.

On Monday, however, Judge Goren opened the proceedings.

The two pale, long-bearded men shuffled into the small, packed courtroom for the two-hour hearing. The dark-haired Dirani listened intently to his attorney arguing in Hebrew. His face seemed permanently locked in a frown, though he allowed an occasional smile to cross it as he surveyed the audience.

A gray-haired Obeid, wearing the skullcap of a spiritual leader and sporting a bruise on his forehead that some people say comes from praying so much, stared into space much of the time.

“With the help of God, I hope to be free,” Obeid said before court officials stopped reporters from asking questions.

Rish argued that the two men are no longer threats because both have said they would not return to military operations once the Israeli occupation of Lebanon ended. But Chen was not buying it.

“They will not be returning to Lebanon to grow roses,” the state prosecutor said.

Initially, Israel hoped to swap Dirani and Obeid for Ron Arad, an Israeli airman shot down over Lebanon in 1986 whose detention has become a cause celebre. Dirani, speaking to the court Monday, confirmed that he had held Arad captive for a period. But Arad was transferred to Iran after Israel bombed the village where he was in custody, Dirani said.

Dirani spoke in Arabic. He and Obeid have learned some Hebrew in prison, according to their court-appointed translator, who said he has been assigned to the men since their abduction. He said they learned about Israel’s exodus from Lebanon from radio and television reports.

U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, charged with verifying Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, issued an appeal to Israel on Sunday to free prisoners as “an additional impetus to the restoration of international peace and security in the area.”

But for the families of Arad and three other Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon since the Israeli invasion of 1982--some members of whom were in the courtroom Monday--freedom for Obeid and Dirani is unthinkable.

“By all the rules of international and moral law, these people should remain in prison,” said Yonah Baumel, whose son Zvi is among the missing.