ISRAEL: HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS DIRANI & OBEID APPEAL FOR FREEDOM

Описание: (13 Sep 2000) Arabic/Nat

Sheik Abdel-Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, who were abducted by Israeli commandos from Lebanon in 1989 and 1994 respectively, appeared before the Israeli supreme court in Jerusalem on Wednesday to appeal for their freedom.

Israel has said it is holding them to exchange for Ron Arad, an Israeli airman whose plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986.

Obeid was a senior official of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group which led the fight against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, at the time of his abduction from his home in south Lebanon.

Dirani was security chief of the Amal guerrilla group, which captured Arad after he ejected from his plane.

Since Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon on May 24, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have demanded the release of the two leaders as well as about dozen other Lebanese held by Israel.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
"It is because there is oppression, I'm here. If there was no oppression I'd be in Lebanon."
SUPER CAPTION: Mustafa Dirani

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
"They occupy your land, arrest you in your own house, destroy your land, and kill your children."
SUPER CAPTION: Sheik Abdel-Karim Obeid

SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)
"There is no justice here.
Q. Where?
A. In the whole country there is no justice."
Q: But Israel left Lebanon?
Yes it left, but it left because it was forced to."
SUPER CAPTION: Sheik Obeid

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The reason Israel gave for holding the two men was that they were a threat to national security but since Israel has now pulled out of Lebanon this was no longer the case and the two men should be released."
SUPER CAPTION: Lawyer Zvi Rish

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