“I try to forget you for this is the memory that chokes my throat” wrote IAF navigator Lt.-Colonel Ron Arad a month after falling into captivity in 1986. The letter was addressed to his wife Tami and his daughter Yuval. That letter was delivered to the family 22 years later. The letter was written on pages torn from an English book.

The letter was delivered to Israel in 2008 as part of the prisoner exchange deal in which Israel received the bodies of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser HY”D. Hizbullah reportedly delivered all the information it had on Arad as part of the prisoner deal with Israel. This report included handwritten pages from the captured navigator, which were identified as genuine by Tami.

Arad also wrote the address of his parents in Hod HaSharon on the letter.

“I will return home” he wrote in the letter.

On October 16, 1986, Arad took part in IAF sorties targeting terrorists in the Sidon area of Lebanon. Due to a technical malfunction there was an explosion on the plane, compelling the crew to eject. The pilot, Yishai Aviram was rescued by an IAF chopper but Arad fell into the hands of Shiite Amal terrorists. The International Red Cross was not permitted to visit him and in September 1987, Israel lost contact with him. Negotiations to gain his release failed. The government at the time refused to release terrorists as demanded in exchange for Arad. In 1988 it is believed that Mustafa Dirani turned Arad over to Iran, and his tracks have disappeared as a result. All efforts since that time have failed.

Three weeks ago marked 25 years since Arad fell into captivity, and Tami stated that no one really worked to bring him home, resulting in his disappearance.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)