Word: israell
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...hanging man was almost certainly U.S. Marine Lieut. Colonel William Higgins, 44, who was kidnaped last year while serving as head of an observer team attached to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon. His captors claimed they killed him in retaliation for Israel's seizure of Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid, a presumed leader of Shi'ite Hizballah terrorists, during a raid into southern Lebanon. U.S. officials now believe, however, that Higgins had been dead for some time, then used for his kidnapers' macabre display. No matter which terrible theory turns out to be true, the image of Higgins' body...
...grueling events of the week put strains on U.S.-Israeli relations over the question of whether Israel had recklessly endangered the lives of Americans. To the Israelis, at least, aggressiveness was clearly preferable to the unbudging status quo that the U.S. appears to tolerate in the unending hostage dilemma. All week the White House navigated between the same poles of military threat and diplomatic engagement that earlier Administrations had tried. Yet by week's end there was a tantalizing glimpse of flexibility: Iran's new President, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, offered to "help" find a solution to the hostage problem...
...news agencies in Beirut than a countdown began toward the execution of Cicippio, 58, kidnaped three years ago from the campus of the American University of Beirut. Cicippio's last-minute reprieve was accompanied by a threat that the clock could be set ticking again. His captors demanded that Israel free not only Obeid but also unspecified Palestinians and Lebanese guerrillas. "Acceptance should be announced within days," they added. "Otherwise the initiative will be considered canceled...
...vote of 11 to 1 in June, after an earlier kidnaping failed to impress Mustafa Dirani, the man believed to be holding one of the soldiers. Last December, Israeli commandos seized Jawad Kasafi, a Dirani associate. But when Jerusalem offered a swap, Hizballah declined even to reply. Israel concluded it needed a bigger fish, and Obeid was selected...
Although the kidnaping was a success, two days later the larger plan appeared to be backfiring. Recognizing that the U.S. could be more easily pressured than Israel by threats against its hostages, a Hizballah front group calling itself the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth vowed to kill Colonel Higgins unless Obeid was released. Israeli Cabinet officials convened an emergency meeting to formulate a counteroffer. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin proposed an exchange of Obeid and the estimated 150 Lebanese Shi'ites held in Israeli prisons for the release of the three Israeli soldiers and all the Western hostages...