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Remains Transfer Proposal
Israel raised the possibility of transferring the remains of Jews buried in Lebanon to Israel during talks with Beirut, according to a report Monday by the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.
“Israel raised the possibility of transferring the remains of Jews buried in Lebanon to Israel”
The report said Israel proposed a civilian exchange deal and, as part of the discussions, raised the historic Jewish presence in Lebanon and the wishes of descendants of Lebanese Jews to move the remains of relatives from Jewish cemeteries in the country to cemeteries in Israel.
According to Al-Akhbar, “the Israelis referred to a significant number of remains in Jewish cemeteries in Beirut and Sidon.”
The same report said thousands of Jews lived in Lebanon until the 1967 Six-Day War, and it estimated Lebanon’s Jewish community at its peak between 12,000 and 20,000 people.
Negotiations in Rome
The proposal was presented during the latest round of negotiations hosted by Rome, where the Israeli delegation described it as a “civil prisoner exchange deal,” according to Ilke Haber Ajansı.
İlke Haber Ajansı said the proposal calls for transferring the remains of Jews buried in Lebanon to Israel in exchange for the release of a number of Lebanese civilians detainees, with Hezbollah members excluded from any similar agreement.
Lebanese sources following the negotiations considered the Israeli demands “impossible and unserious,” viewing them as an attempt to complicate the negotiation process and drain time, far from the Lebanese main demand to release 34 Lebanese detainees confirmed by Lebanese authorities.
The same Ilke Haber Ajansı account said Israel reopened missing persons cases related to the Lebanese Civil War, demanding the fate or remains of 11 Jews who disappeared or were killed in the 1980s, alongside renewing its demands regarding the fate of Israeli pilot Ron Arad, who disappeared in Lebanon in 1986.
Broader Pressure in the South
While the diplomatic track continued, the West Asian outlet Al-Youm As-Sabea said Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon, which it dated to begin on March 2, continued despite ongoing diplomatic talks between Lebanon and Israel.
“the total toll reached 4,333 martyrs and about 12,000 wounded”
It cited the Lebanese Ministry of Health for a total toll of 4,333 martyrs and about 12,000 wounded, with 250 others injured, and it described shelling and explosions in multiple areas including Al-Ṭāhir and Farun near Mafdal.
In the same account, Israel demanded Lebanon disclose the remains of Jews in Lebanon, including Ron Arad, and it said Tel Aviv has raised the issue in every previous exchange operation.
The outlet also said the first batch of ready-made houses arrived in Zutr al-Gharbi to enable displaced families whose homes were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes to return, with the houses placed in the courtyard of the Husayni Club in the Qa‘aqa‘iqah al-Jisr area.
