ISRAEL RELEASES NAMES OF THREE MISSING STUDENTS ASSUMED ALIVE

Tel Aviv, 15 Sya’ban 1435/14 June 2014 (MINA) – Israel on Saturday has released the names of the three teenage yeshiva students who have been missing since Thursday night and are feared to have been kidnapped. They are Eyal Yifrah, 19, from Elad, Gil-Ad Shaer, 16, from Talmon and Naftali Frenkel, 16, from Nof Ayalon.

The security forces’ working assumption is that the three are still alive, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Saturday. He added that the Israel Defense Force is in the middle of an ongoing and highly complex operation, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz and British newspaper The Guardian reports monitored by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

The teens, students at the Makor Chaim yeshiva in the religious kibbutz Kfar Etzion, were thought to be hitchhiking to Modi’in, a city halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. When they did not arrive home or make contact with their families, the yeshiva informed the authorities.

Meanwhile, security forces are investigating whether a stolen Israeli vehicle, which was found burnt near Hebron, is linked to the kidnapping. Palestinian firefighters were alerted about the burning car at 3 A.M. on Friday.

Sources in the defense establishment with knowledge of the investigation estimate that the kidnapping was perpetrated by a well-organized and well-prepared cell. The IDF estimates that the kidnappers are attempting to leave Israeli territory, via Jordan.

Several locations named by the Shin Bet security services as places the boys might be kept at have been discounted by the military overnight.

“Everything we are doing in these hours, and in the coming hours, is an attempt to go back and retrace what happened there in that area, and understand where they are now and what happened to them,” says a senior IDF official.

IDF Spokesman Moti Almoz said during a press briefing that forces have been searching for the teens since Friday morning, and cautioned against speculation and rumors that have been circulating all day on Israeli social media.

Netanyahu held an emergency meeting

Prime Minister Netanyahu held an emergency meeting Friday afternoon at the Kirya, the IDF’s Tel Aviv headquarters. Among the officials taking part in the meeting were Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharanovich, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.

According to an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, “Israel sees the PA as responsible for the well-being of the kidnapped,” adding that Netanyahu spoke with the families of the three missing teens and pledged he would do all in his power to locate them.

“I know you are suffering,” Netanyahu told the families. “Be strong, the State of Israel will make every effort for your sons, and I promise to remain in contact with you.”

Netanyahu orders government ministers not to give interviews on the matter.

The Palestinian Authority responds to Netanyahu’s statement, saying the PA “is not responsible for the security of settlers.”

Adnan Dmeiri, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority security services, notes that the three are believed to have been kidnapped from Gush Etzion, an area “under Israeli security control,” the Palestinian news agency Maan reports.

A senior Fatah official tells Haaretz the Palestinian security services will do everything they can to help find the missing Israelis.

“The three were kidnapped in Area C, which is under full Israeli security control. The Palestinian Authority returned in recent years dozens of Israeli citizens who entered Authority territory by accident or deliberately to prove the principle of the sanctity of life,” said Mohamed Almadani, and adds: “I wish the Israeli government would show responsibility and commitment to human rights on the issue of the hunger-striking detainees.”

Yeshiva forbids hitchhiking

Two of the missing teens are high school juniors at the ‘Mekor Chaim’ yeshiva in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, and the third studies at the ‘Shavey Hebron’ yeshiva in Hebron.

Students at Mekor Chaim told Haaretz that the yeshiva has a clear policy forbidding hitchhiking. “The administration is very strict on this topic, it’s a red line that every student knows. Students are forbidden from leaving without permission, and it is absolutely not allowed to catch rides outside of the Kibbutz’s gate.” Pupils caught hitching rides risk expulsion from the yeshiva, they said.

Some 300 pupils study at the yeshiva, which is a leading educational institution for Israel’s national-religious public. Several rabbis and public figures send their boys there.

Shin Bet warnings

The Shin Bet security service has warned in recent weeks of increasingly frequent attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers and citizens in the West Bank. According to Shin Bet data, in the past nine months there have been 11 cases of Palestinians incarcerated in Israel making contact with operatives in the West Bank in an attempt to carry out kidnappings.

In September, Israeli soldier Tomer Hazan was kidnapped and killed by two Palestinians who had invited him to the West Bank. Prosecutors say the kidnapping was part a plan to bring about the release of the killers’ brother, in prison in Israel.

U.S. citizenship

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro has also been briefed that one of the missing teens reportedly holds U.S. citizenship.

An official from the U.S. State Department said, “We hope the three teens will be returned to their families safely.”

Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the U.S. is working with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to help resolve the crisis. Earlier on Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Friday evening, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni informally met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. At the meeting, Livni asked Kerry to approach Abbas and the Palestinian Authority in order to bring about the release of the teens.

Livni is in London for the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, an international conference on war crimes and violence against women in conflict areas.

Netanyahu additionally spoke with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, and told him that Abbas is responsible for the well-being of the missing teens.

“What has happened on the ground since the inclusion of Hamas in the Palestinian government is detrimental. This is the result of letting in a murderous terror organization,” Netanyahu said. (T/E01/IR)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)