On the third annoiversary of the kidnap murder of the three IDF soldiers from their patrol near Har Dov, it is important to remember the role played by the UN in the process. This article from two years ago says it all. -DB

The United Nations admitted that it had – unintentionally – misled Israel concerning the reports and videotapes from the south Lebanon border scene where Hezbollah kidnapped three soldiers October 7. The abducted soldiers are Adi Avitan, 21, Benny Avraham, 20, and Omar Souad, 27.

UNIFIL deputy commander General Ganesan Athmanathan wrote a report shortly after the incident, blaming faulty internal communications and the poor judgment of some senior UN officials for the delay in informing Israel about the existence of videotapes.

Athmanathan said the quantity of blood in the vehicles in which the soldiers had been transported indicated that some occupants “may have been badly injured and could succumb to their injuries.”

“He saw major blood deposits,” said Joseph Connor, the under-secretary general for management, who led the probe. That contradicted statements made three weeks ago at a news conference by the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, who spoke of “some small blood stains, like the drop you shed when you scratch your finger.”

The UN launched a probe into the affair last month, after images from a tape recorded by UNIFIL troops 18 hours after the kidnappings were broadcast on Israeli television. The UN had denied that any tape existed relating to the soldiers’ abduction.

Now it turns out there are three tapes in UN hands – one filmed by an Indian peacekeeper on October 8; a second one recently discovered at UN headquarters that showed artillery fire and “smoke that could be from the burning Israeli jeep” but not of the kidnapping itself, according to the report; and a third tape taken from a July Lebanese television bulletin that purported to show photographs of Hezbollah during the abduction itself.

The report stated that UNIFIL personnel had not colluded with Hezbollah or taken bribes from it in connection with the abduction, as earlier unconfirmed rumors suggested.

IDF officers to NY

UN investigators said the peacekeepers had found a civilian Nissan Pathfinder and a Range Rover, with their engines still running, at the side of a road near Kfar Hamam, about six kilometers from the abduction site.

Inside the Pathfinder, they found UN license plates, a UN flag, a false antenna, overalls, berets and AK-47 rifle magazines. In the Range Rover they found a belt pouch and a radio set. There was blood in the front and the trunk. More than 50 items were removed, including a military belt and a car mat, both stained with blood.

The items were cataloged and transferred to UNIFIL headquarters in Nakura, with the exception of the seven blood-soaked items that were sent to UN headquarters in New York.

Three Israel Defense Forces officers who specialize in finding missing and captured soldiers will go to UN headquarters in New York this week. Connor said the UN will permit the Israelis to see the bloodstained items, but examination of the stains themselves will be carried out by a third party, such as the World Health Organization, which would submit its findings to Israel. The implication is that the UN will not permit Israel to examine the other items, which it has categorized as “operational.”

`A mistake’

“I think the State of Israel is making a mistake in agreeing to send a team to the UN to analyze the findings, said Haim Avraham, whose son Benny is among the three abducted soldiers. “It is inconceivable for a humanitarian organization to hold onto humanitarian information for so long and then invite Israeli representatives to come to it. In my opinion, the information should be sent to Israel,” Avraham said.

“We said all along that the UN has a videotape of the abduction as well as items belonging to the soldiers. Actually, this is Israel bungle – there was no firm demand to reveal things until we publicized the story of the tape. Now I am saying the UN also has the operational investigations of the Indian brigade that include important details about the boys’ abduction, these investigations must be exposed.”

Hezbollah stays silent

“We will not be drawn into this issue,” a Hezbollah official told Reuters news agency yesterday after hearing about the UN report indicating that the soldiers may have died during the ambush.

“They want to use it and make us reveal the fate of the Israeli soldiers – whether they are alive or dead. We will not talk about this subject without something in return and while the exchange talks are still going on.”

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Lancry, welcomed the report and said that Israel was already aware that large amounts of blood had been found in the vehicles. “I can reveal from our own sources months ago we had this kind of assessment… But our assumption, our strong assumption, is that our soldiers are alive.”

He said this was based in part on Hezbollah leaders, who last month spoke about having the captured soldiers.

Peres talks to Annan

In a phone conversation with Kofi Annan on Friday, Defense Minister Shimon Peres expressed his appreciation for the UN chief’s handling of the affair and his willingness to make the information and findings available to Israel.

Peres said the captured soldiers were at the the top of Israel’s agenda and it has asked for permission to let the soldiers’ families view the tapes. Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer also expressed his gratitude to Annan for investigating the affair.

Heads could roll

The “bad guy” in the UN report is Joachim Hutter, director of the Asia and Middle East Department of Peacekeeping Operations, who received the October videotape in May Senior UN officials called Hutter “the father of the idee fixe” that the contents of the videotape were not important and therefore there was no need even to report it existed. The report mentions Hutter as the main liaison between UNIFIL and UN headquarters in New York and as bearing a great deal of responsibility for the embarrassing affair. Senior UN officials say Annan is likely to take action against Hutter.

This article ran in Ha’aretz 5 August 2001

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