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Release of postage
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In Beirut Delayed
U.S. Refusal to Dispatch Envoy Cited
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Foreign Service
DAMASCUS, Syria, April 19-
Lebanese kidnappers said tonight in
Beirut that they have postponed
freeing an American hostage be-
cause of the refusal by the United
States to dispatch a senior State
Department official here to make
final arrangements for the release.
The statement by the Islamic
Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine
has at least temporarily halted the
freeing of one of three American
educators held hostage by the Iran-
ian-backed Lebanese group since
January 1987. On Wednesday, the
kidnappers had announced that they
would release one American hos-
tage "within 48 hours."
Tonight's announcement, deliv-
ered to Western and Arab news
organizations in Beirut, appeared to
surprise senior Syrian government
officials here who had seemed con-
vinced that the release would take
place Friday.
Foreign Minister Farouk Charaa,
who conferred for more than an
hour with U.S. Ambassador Edward
Djerijian tonight, said after the an-
nouncement: "We hope this Amer-
ican hostage will be released either
on Saturday or Sunday."
The message repeated the
group's demand made Wednesday
that John Kelly, the U.S. assistant
secretary of state for Near Eastern
and South Asian affairs, come to
Damascus to complete arrange-
ments for the hostage's release.
"Kelly's failure to respond has so
far frustrated the release, which
made us postpone this operation
until the picture is cleared," the kid-
nappers said.
The Bush administration refused
to dispatch Kelly to Damascus, say-
ing his presence here could be seen
as engaging in negotiations for the
release of one of eight American
hostages held by various Shiite
Moslem fundamentalist groups in
Lebanon. The United States has
called for the unconditional freeing
of the hostages and said it will not
negotiate for their freedom.
The kidnappers did not say how
long they would postpone the hos-
See HOSTAGES, A23, Col. 3
Bush Spurns
Captors'
'Demands'
By David Hoffman
Washington Post Staff Writer
KEY LARGO, Fla., April
19-President Bush said to-
day he decided not to send
Assistant Secretary of State
John H. Kelly to Damascus as
requested by a pro-Iranian
group holding American hos-
tages because "the United
States does not knuckle under
to demands", by such groups.
"The U.S. position is
clear-we do not meet de-
mands," Bush said at a joint
news conference with French
President Francois Mitter-
rand whom he met with here
to discuss U.S .- European is-
sues.
Although
administration
officials earlier in the day had
suggested that a message
from the pro-Iranian group
might lead to the release of an
'American hostage held in
Lebanon, Bush took a more
pessimistic tone after the
group announced it would
postpone the release because
Kelly had not been sent.
"We've been disappointed
before, hopes raised only to
have them dashed by exces-
sive speculation," Bush said.
He said the United States is
"not talking to the hostage
holders."
"So let me just take this
opportunity to repeat what I
said when I first became pres-
ident," Bush said. "Goodwill
begets goodwill. And I link
that to release of American
hostages. We can't have nor-
mal relations [with Iran] when
hostages are held." Referring
to both Iran and Libya, Bush
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See PRESIDENT, A23, Col. 4

Washington Post
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP9600789R000401020006-9
THE WASHINGTON POST
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1990 A23
Release of American Hostage Postponed
HOSTAGES, From A1
expressed hope that Syrian Brig.
Gen. Ghazi Kenaan "will head to
Beirut to wrap up the issue upon
the arrival of Kelly in Damascus."
Kenaan, Syria's military intelli-
gence chief in Lebanon, has played
a key role in past hostage releases
in Beirut.
The statement was accompanied
by a photograph of Robert Polhill,
one of the three Americans seized
Jan. 24, 1987, from Beirut Univer-
sity College by men masquerading
as campus police.
Wednesday's communique by
Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of
Palestine was accompanied by a
picture of Jesse Turner, implying
that the 42-year-old mathematics
professor would be the American
set free. The group also holds Alann
Steen, a journalism professor who
turns 51 Sunday. Polhill, 55, taught
accounting at the college.
.
The captors said Wednesday that
they had decided to release a hos-
tage in response to appeals from
both Iranian and Syrian officials for
a "goodwill initiative in order to
close the hostage file." But the
group also indicated that it expects
to see the "goodwill" met in kind.
"We are ready for either positive
response or escalation, and the oth-
er party has to choose," the mes-
sage said. It did not make clear,
however, whether Kelly's presence
in Damascus was an essential con-
dition for the release.
U.S. officials appear to have been
unaware of a possible hostage re-
lease this week. Djerijian was in
Bonn Wednesday for a meeting with
Kelly and other American envoys.
The ambassador returned here late
this afternoon and later met with
Charaa at the Foreign Ministry.
Afterward, Djerijian said only,
"We are in close contact with the
Syrian government."
Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of
Palestine also repeated an earlier
threat to attack jetliners and air-
ports used in the transport of em-
igrating Soviet Jews to Israel.
"The organization serves this fi-
nal warning ... on all those partic-
ipating in this matter, especially
those countries offering transit fa-
cilities," the statement said. "All
civilians should stay away from the
airports, airlines and jetliners that
will be the targets for operations
mounted at times we deem ade-
quate."
.It remained unclear whether to-
night's postponement signals a tac-
tical delay or final blow for the re-
lease soon of an American hostage.
If this is merely a delay, observers
said, the kidnappers may be hoping
to extract more rewards for com-
plying with Syrian and Iranian re-
quests to free the captives. But if
not, the captors may be asserting
demands, such as Kelly's presence
here, that they expect the United
States to firmly reject in order to
foil any further movement toward a
resolution of the hostage issue.
Both Syria, which has 40,000
troops in Lebanon, and Iran have .
indicated in recent weeks that they
want to see the hostages freed.
Iranian officials founded and contin-
ue to finance the Shiite Moslem
fundamentalist groups in Lebanon
that hold 17 Western hostages, in-
cluding the Americans. Islamic Ji-
had for the Liberation of Palestine
is believed also to have close links
with Syrian intelligence officials.
In October 1988, the group re-
leased Mithileswar Singh, an Indian
who was kidnapped with the three
Americans at the college. At the
time, U.S. and Arab sources said
Syria played the key role in gaining
his freedom. Syrian Foreign Min-
ister Charaa announced the release.
Bush Rejects Request From Pro-Iranian Group
PRESIDENT, From Al-
of terror is terribly important . . . if
we are to have better relations
there."
U.S. officials said Syria had re-
layed a message to Washington say-
ing that a hostage might be re-
leased, and Bush said "we are grate-
ful to Syria for trying to play a con-
structive role in what is going on."
But a senior administration offi-
cial in Washington said the Syrian
message transmitted through dipo-
matic channels did not mention Kel-
ly or any condition for release of the
hostage. "The Syrian government
did not request that we send Kelly,"
the official said. "The hostage hold-
ers did." The statement by the pro-
Iranian group, the Islamic Jihad for
the Liberation of Palestine, had said
Kelly should come to Damascus "to
coordinate some final steps."
The U.S. official cited three ma-
jor reasons why the administration
rejected "at least for now" Kelly's
participation in an arrangement for
the release of a hostage.
"This was a demand from hostage-
takers and to send Kelly would clear-
ly be part of meeting a demand," he
said. "It would clearly to us and prob-
ably to you [the media] be construed
Secondly, the official said, "the pres-
ident feared that once Kelly got [to
Damascus] there would, in fact, be
further demands, not to say the
whole world's attention on the hos-
tage-situation. And we would be
caught in that cycle." Finally, the of-
ficial said, "We were extremely re-
luctant to send him into such a dan-
gerous situation. How would it look if
he turned into another Terry Waite?"
An envoy of Britain's Anglican
church negotiating for the release of
hostages, Waite was captured in . ing torture and executions. The res-
1987.
Defending the decision not to send
Kelly to Damascus, Bush and other
officials noted the U.S. Ambassador
to Syria, Edward Djerejian, was or-
.dered to return to Damascus from
Bonn in case a hostage was released,
and that he had contacts with the
Syrian foreign minister on the hos-
tage issue.
At the news conference here, Mit-
terrand also defended France's ef-
forts to gain the release last week of
three French hostages-efforts that
have been controversial because of
the appearance that negotiations
were held for their release.
In Washington a State Department
official confirmed that on Wednesday
as negotiating with hostage-holders." Syria had signalled an imminent hos-
tage release to U.S. officials. "Syria
let us know yesterday at about the
same time the statement [from the
pro-Iranian group] came out in Bei-
rut that a hostage was coming out,"
the official said. "It is not surprising
if it takes place that Syria would like
to take credit."
In a related development yester-
day, a House panel brushed aside ad-
ministration objections and approved
a non-binding resolution condemning
Iraq for human rights abuses, includ-
olution by the House Foreign Affairs
subcommittee on human rights cited
Iraq's use of chemical weapons
against its Kurdish minority in 1988
and persistent repression of all po-
litical opposition, among other vio-
lations.
Rep. Gus Yatron (D-Pa.) subcom-
mittee chairman, said the State De-
partment opposed the measure be-
cause it referred to Iraq's "consis-
tent pattern of gross violations" 'of
human rights, language that in a
binding resolution could trigger a
cut-off of all U.S. aid to Iraq.
Staff writers Nora Boustany and
Ann Devroy in Washington
contributed to this report.
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