Red Cross For Terrorists-What For Captive Israelis?

Attorneys for three Hizb'allah terrorists caught during the recent war in southern Lebanon argued in Nazareth District Court Monday that their clients should receive prisoner of war (POW) status.

The three were indicted on charges of killing IDF soldiers with an anti-tank missile during a kidnapping operation July 12 which resulted in the capture of IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. The attack ignited the recent 34-day war with Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon.

Attorneys Smadar Ben Nathan and Itay Hermlin – representing the three guerrillas –contended that their clients were not bound by the laws of Israel and should be granted the status of prisoners of war (POW).

Hermlin also argued that “”Hizb'allah must be defeated on the battleground and not in criminal court.” He charged that the legal process was, in effect, illegal.

The three terrorists, Mahmoud Ali Suleiman, Mohammed Sarur and Mahar Qurani, were charged with a long list of additional crimes.

Red Cross Visits Hizbullah Hostages, Blocked From Seeing IDF Captives

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that they visited the three captured Hizbullah terrorist guerrillas who were being held in Israel, but not the IDF prisoners of war held by terrorists in the north and south.

The organization made no mention of any efforts to gain access to Regev and Goldwasser who are being held by Hizb'allah terrorists in an undisclosed location.

Since the cease-fire established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, Hizb'allah has resisted efforts by the Red Cross and international figures - such as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and American civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Neither has the ICRC made contact with IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, a prisoner of Hamas terrorists who rejected a Red Cross appeal to permit its representatives to visit him to ascertain his condition.

Hamas officials stated they could not permit the request while “tens of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons are not permitted to visit with their families.” Palestinian Authority prisoners in Israeli jails are visited every week by their families.

The whereabouts and condition of all three of the IDF troops, assuming they are alive, are not known. Nevertheless, Israel has allowed the Red Cross to visit the terrorists, who "are in good health" according to ICRC officials quoted by the Beirut Daily Star.

The ICRC mission statement includes a mandate by the Geneva Conventions which includes tasking the ICRC with visiting prisoners of war. The Geneva Conventions are binding instruments of international law, applicable worldwide, according to the ICRC website.

Arutz Sheva
09.19.2006