§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what measures he has undertaken in respect of the kidnap of Elchanan Tenenbium; [74874]
(2) what discussions he has had with (a) The Syrian Government, (b) The Syrian Ambassador in London, (c) The Head of Hizbullah in respect of the kidnap of Elchanan Tenenbium; and what was the outcome of these discussions. [74873]
§ Mike O'BrienHMG has made a number of representations to governments in the Middle East about the fate of Elchanan Tannenbaum and missing Israeli soldiers, and will continue to do so. Most recently 199W our Ambassadors in Beirut and Damascus raised them with their host governments on 3 October 2002 and 19 September 2002, respectively. They took note of our interest. Also on 12 December 2001, our Ambassador in Beirut raised hostage taking in general terms with Hizballah. On each occasion we emphasised that hostage taking was wrong and that those holding hostages should free them at once.
Our Ambassadorin Tel Aviv met families of the missing men, including Mr. Tannenbaum's son, on 9 September 2002.
§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will obtain a copy of the two video tapes in the possession of Taria Larsen of the UN showing the kidnap of Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Umar Souad on 7 October 2000. [74872]
§ Mike O'BrienThere are no videotapes or photographs of the abduction of the soldiers in the UN's possession: the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) did not witness or film the kidnapping. The UN has two related videotapes, which it has shared with the families of the abducted soldiers. These two videos are not available for release.
The first tape—filmed by the Indian battalion assigned to UNIFIL on 8 October 2000—is of the attempted recovery of two UN vehicles. The UN did recover items from within them. But during the operation Hizbollah returned and claimed the vehicles. The second tape—filmed by an unknown person—showed the shelling of Israel Defence Forces positions along the Blue Line. Neither tape gives any indication about the fate of the kidnapped soldiers.