Forty years after Israeli navigator Ron Arad was captured in Lebanon, his fate may be on the table in current negotiations between Israel and Lebanon being held in Washington, according to a report Tuesday by the Lebanese Al-Jadeed network.
The report states that the Israel-Lebanon talks, currently underway in Washington, will include discussions on returning Arad's remains to Israel in exchange for the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. The issue is said to be one of several topics on the agenda addressing the broader relationship between the two countries.
According to Amit Segal, Israel says that they don't know anything about this.
Arad, an IAF navigator, was captured by the Amal organization in Lebanon in 1986 after his plane was downed and has been missing ever since. Israel has pursued his case for decades in an effort to determine his fate and return him for burial in Israel, so far without success.
As recently as this past March, IDF special forces operated in southern Lebanon in an attempt to locate remains and findings related to Arad, but the operation did not succeed. The military said at the time that "no findings relating to him were located at the search site."
Arad's wife has previously expressed opposition to military operations aimed at recovering his remains, citing the risk to soldiers' lives.
