Israelis Express Relief, Anger Over POW Swap

JERUSALEM —  Israel emptied its prisons Monday of more than a thousand Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas, dozens of them convicted of murder, in exchange for three Israeli soldiers captured almost three years ago by a pro-Syrian guerrilla group.

The complicated trade, arranged through the International Red Cross and former Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, took place over a six-hour period at the airport in Geneva, Switzerland, and at two sites in Israeli-occupied territory.

Under the arrangements, which involved months of indirect but frequently bitter negotiations between Israel and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, 394 guerrillas were flown from Israel to Geneva and then on to Libya; 150 guerrillas were sent into Syria from the Golan Heights and are expected to be sent on to Lebanon, and about 500 were loaded on buses and taxis and driven to their home villages in Israel proper and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the Jordan River.

The three Israelis, all captured by Palestinians in 1982, were flown from Damascus, Syria, to Geneva and then to Israel. They are Sgt. Hezi Shai, Pvt. Yossi Groff and Pvt. Nissim Salem.

Reaction in Israel to the exchange was a combination of relief over the freeing of the three soldiers and anxiety and anger that more than a thousand convicted terrorists were released from prison.

The anger was shown in demonstrations by right-wing groups throughout the country, including many at Israeli settlements established in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

At one point, Jewish settlers from the West Bank city of Shiloh blocked the road from Ramallah to Nablus, two of the cities where many of the released Palestinians were being taken. However, the barricades were taken down after 2 1/2 hours when troops moved in before the buses carrying the terrorists arrived.

Intensifying the rage of many people was the inclusion in the swap of about 150 people convicted of murder or attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison. One of the controversial prisoners is 37-year-old Kozo Okamoto, a member of the Red Army, a Japanese terrorist group allied with Arab radicals. He was given a life sentence for taking part in the 1972 murder of 26 people and the wounding of 72 others at Tel Aviv’s Lod Airport. Most of the victims were Puerto Rican religious pilgrims.

There were no serious problems with the trade, although there were delays caused by the late arrival of the airplanes from Tel Aviv carrying the guerrillas.

Okamoto was one of the first prisoners off the plane in Geneva. Press reports in Tokyo said Japanese police intend to put his name on a list of criminals wanted overseas.

Another well-known terrorist among those released was guerrilla leader Ziad abu Ein, who was convicted of detonating a bomb in Tiberias that killed two people. Sentenced to life in prison after he was extradited from the United States in 1981, he was sent Monday to his home in Ramallah.

Abu Ein’s attitude after his release was one of the factors heightening concern among Israelis. Saying that he will quickly resume anti-Israel activity, he told reporters, “I’ll do anything to . . . free my people.”

He also said that while he was not mistreated in prison, the conditions were bad, including a lack of medical treatment, long hours of solitary confinement and poor food. Another Palestinian, convicted of the murder of a Jewish student in the West Bank town of Hebron, said in an interview that the release “was a victory” for the Popular Front, one of the most violent of the Palestinian terrorist organizations.

Such remarks, plus the fact that the exchange was so numerically one-sided, brought strong criticism of the government of Prime Minister Shimon Peres and demands that Israelis serving sentences here for anti-Arab terrorism be immediately pardoned and that current trials be abandoned against several members of the Jewish Underground, a group dedicated to driving Arabs off the West Bank.

Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a former prime minister, said it is unjust to release Arab terrorists while Jews convicted of the same crimes remain in prison.

Otnel Schneller, the influential president of the Council of Settlements in Judea and Samaria, as Israel calls the West Bank territory, told a reporter: “It is dangerous to release into the area terrorists who have killed civilians. They now will know that they can kill Jews and get off free.”

Army Maj. Meir Endore, a leader of a right-wing organization seeking to expand Jewish settlement in the West Bank, said he and other members of the military have agreed that they will never agree to a similar exchange if captured.

“This day will be remembered as a black day in the history of Israel,” he said, adding that terrorists must not be allowed to think they can take advantage of Israel’s traditional policy of doing almost anything to get its captured soldiers back.

Even the man who negotiated the deal for Israel was doubtful about the wisdom of what had gone on. Schmuel Timar, a former justice minister, said, “We are freeing people who felt they detected . . . a weakness because of our concern” to get back the Israeli soldiers.

He accused the Popular Front of cruelty and cynicism, saying that “their values are different from ours.”

3 Israelis Missing

No more Israelis are known to be in Arab hands but three remain missing from the war in Lebanon. Timar said, “I won’t be surprised” if the guerrilla group shows up soon with the three missing men and seeks another exchange for the several hundred convicted terrorists remaining in custody.

When Israeli censorship of the trade was lifted late Monday afternoon and could be publicly discussed, right-wing members of the Knesset (Parliament) immediately attacked the government, with one saying he will seek approval of the death penalty for terrorists.

Peres acknowledged that “Israel paid a heavy price” to obtain the three soldiers, but he added, “Israel has paid a heavy price before.”

Monday’s exchange was the third major trade in the last two years of Palestinian and Arab prisoners for captured Israelis.

Last June, Israel gave up 311 Syrian soldiers and Arab prisoners along with the bodies of 72 soldiers to get back six Israelis captured in the fighting in southern Lebanon. The year before, Israeli turned over 4,500 Lebanese and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization for the release of six soldiers.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin told a television audience Monday night that as hard as the decision to make the exchange had been, it was similar to decisions made in the past and was part of Israel’s traditional policy.

If Israelis were subdued and concerned about the ramifications of the day’s events, the freed prisoners, at least the ones who returned to homes in Israel and the West Bank, were jubilant.

As a convoy of eight buses, all driven by Arabs, made its way with its Israeli guards from the large prison at Nablus through the West Bank, the about-to-be released men leaned out the windows, waving, flashing the V-for-victory sign and cheering.

Large crowds stood beside the road shouting and often crying. Whenever a man got out of a bus, he was mobbed by family, friends and anyone who was in the area.

“They are our heroes,” yelled one teen-age girl in Ramallah, “They are our saviors.”

The scene on the West Bank was in sharp contrast to the somber mood in Geneva, where the 394 Palestinians were led under heavy guard and in handcuffs from the Israeli planes that carried them to the Swiss city to the airliners that took them to Libya.

Reporters were kept far way from the scene, and the prisoners were not released from the shackles until they were aboard the departing aircraft.

Salem was the first of the three Israelis to be freed. He ran up the steps of the Israeli air force jet that was to carry him, kissed a woman soldier and announced, “I want to go home.”