|
|
March 25, 2005/Adar II 14 5765, Volume 57, No. 30
Israeli spy's family wants body back
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Maurice Cohen, a Mossad communications officer, did not know what to make of the odd message he was sent in the early 1960s: "Ask Nadia if she received the Singer sewing machine."
He couldn't figure out what either Nadia or Singer meant, and neither could his superiors. He didn't know that "our man in Damascus" was his older brother, Eli. As far as he knew, Eli, a buyer for the defense ministry, was off on a shopping tour of Europe.
His family did not know that Eli Cohen was a spy, much less Israel's most daring undercover operator, until soon before he was caught.
But now, as the 40th anniversary of his execution approaches, his family is intensifying its efforts to convince Syria's president, Bashar Assad, to release Cohen's body for reburial.
"I have no doubt that if Assad released the body, it would greatly improve his image in Israel and abroad," Sophie Ben-Dor, Eli Cohen's daughter, told JTA. "Making such a humane gesture could help convince the Israelis that he is serious when he talks about peace with Israel."
Ben-Dor and her mother recently sent a letter and a videocassette to Assad via unnamed intermediaries. In the cassette, they appeal to Assad directly, telling him that if he would release the body he would "honor the dead and the values of Islam."
"We pleaded with him to let go of the past, and promised him that his initiative would be widely respected by the Israelis," Ben-Dor added.
But Assad is playing his cards close to the vest.
"Our contacts said that he promised to release the body in due course, or that it should be part of the peace negotiations," Ben-Dor said. "We are not saying that the issue should be separated from negotiations, but it has already been 40 years, and we don't want to wait another 40 years."
Using the alias Kamal Amin Ta'abet, Cohen worked undercover in Damascus as a Mossad agent from 1962 until he was arrested in 1965. Using his vast network of contacts there, he managed to pass invaluable intelligence to Israel.
His information contributed directly to Israel's victory - and its capture of the Golan Heights - in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Cohen was hanged on May 18, 1965.
|
|
