ministers. He was also a close friend of Boris Rotskoy, the deputy
of President Boris Yeltsin. Rotskoy was subsequently arrested in
Russia following the failed coup in the fall of 1993. Kobzon’s re-
quest for Kalmanovitch’s release created the impression in Israel
that Kalmanovitch was a senior Soviet spy. In fact, the Soviet au-
thorities deemed him no more than a low-level assistant. However,
in Israel it was thought that if an apparently senior Soviet spy were
released at the Soviets’ request this might indeed initiate the diplo-
matic process between the two countries.
The second reason for the release of Kalmanovitch was his al-
legedly failing health. Uri Lubrani, then coordinator of Israeli gov-
ernment activities in Lebanon, recommended Kalmanovitch’s release
on these grounds. In fact Lubrani wanted to do a good turn for Jamil
Sa’idi, a businessman from Sierra Leone who had commercial con-
nections with Kalmanovitch. Sa’idi was a distant relative of Nabil
Beri, head of the Amal movement in Lebanon. Amal then held the Is-
raeli navigator Ron Arad, and there was a hope that the release of
Kalmanovitch would initiate moves leading to the freeing of Arad.
Kalmanovitch, still in prison, helped to arrange a meeting of his
lawyer Amnon Zikhroni, a Mossadrepresentative, and an ISA repre-
sentative in Paris with Sa’idi.
Israel maintained that in addition to Kalmanovitch’s good behav-
ior in prison, his release was in return for the freeing from a Russian
prison of 20 Jewish would-be emigrants to Israel whose applications
had been rejected. This was not the real reason. On his release
Kalmanovitch declared his intention to stay in Israel, but he soon left
the country for Russia to manage his business there. Nothing came of
any of Israel’s hopes generated by his release.KANFANI, GHASSAN.Kanfani is considered one of the great Palestin-
ian writers in the period after 1948. A native of Acre, in the 1960s he
lived in Beirut and became the chief spokesman of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine, the group headed by George Habash. He
was killed on 8 July 1972 when his car was blown up, allegedly by the
Mossad. See also TERRORISM; WRATH OF GOD OPERATION.KANJ, KAMAL.SeeGRABLI, RAPHAEL.138 • KANFANI, GHASSAN06-102 (03) H-P.qxd 3/24/06 7:24 AM Page 138