Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991 TAG: 9103200309
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BEIRUT, LEBANON LENGTH: Medium
The Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, in a typewritten Arabic statement delivered to the independent newspaper An-Nahar and to a Western news agency, also demanded that Israel free an unspecified number of Arab prisoners.
Israel said it was making "significant efforts" to obtain the release of foreign hostages and Israeli servicemen missing in Lebanon, an adviser to Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Arens said in Jerusalem.
Israel has in the past offered to exchange the Shiite cleric, Sheik Abdul-Karim Obeid, and an estimated 300 Shiites held by the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia in exchange for all hostages and Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon.
Aide Dan Naveh declined comment when asked whether the offer still stands.
The Islamic Jihad statement said the release of Obeid would be an "encouraging prelude."
Obeid, an activist of Hezbollah, or Party of God, was kidnapped by Israeli troops from his hometown of Jibsheet in south Lebanon in 1989.
"As for the question of the hostages, the solution of this problem is linked to the condition of freeing the detainees held in Zionist jails," Islamic Jihad said in the statement.
"This is the final context for the solution, and every other move is useless," it said.
But the statement said the group was ready to negotiate.
The 23-line statement was accompanied by a color instamatic photograph of American hostage Jesse Turner. A photocopy of the picture was delivered to the Western news agency. It showed Turner, with a black bushy beard and eyeglasses, wearing a gray sweatshirt and looking into the camera.
The Islamic Jihad claims to hold Turner, 43, of Boise, Idaho, and Alann Steen, 51, of Boston. Both Americans were kidnapped on Jan. 24, 1987, from the campus of U.S.-affiliated Beirut University College.
by CNB