Israel's Air Force allows Russian jet to land, captures hijacker

TEL AVIV — Israel's air force allowed a Russian passenger jet abducted by at least two Chechen separatists to land after a tense standoff.

Israeli security sources said a lone hijacker surrendered to authorities at a southern Negev base on Sunday after a 10-hour ordeal. They said most of the passengers left a TU-154 jet at an air force base near the Red Sea port of Eilat. The passengers include the finance minister of the Russian republic of Dagestan and his bodyguards.

The TU-154 jet — with 58 passengers aboard — was abducted during a flight from the southern Russian republic of Dagestan to Moscow.

One separatist hijacked the plane, the sources said. He demanded that the jet fly to Israel and convene a news conference to express support for the Palestinian revolt against the Jewish state.

But the separatist did not raise Palestinian issues when he met Israeli negotiators, the sources said. Instead, they said, the Chechen discussed the current war against Moscow. He was taken into custody.

The Chechen had hijacked a Dagestan airlines flight to Moscow on late Saturday. The plane was diverted to Baku for refueling and then headed for Israel with 58 passengers and crew.

At first, Israel refused to allow the Russian jet to land in Israel. But after numerous appeals from Russian officials, the Tupelov was directed by an Israeli air force jet to land at Uvda air force base.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak delayed his trip to the United States for a meeting with President Bill Clinton and returned to Israel from a stopover in London. But officials said Barak will return to Washington in wake of the resolution of the episode. In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin was alerted as the plane continued through Turkey and Cyprus. The plane arrived in Israeli air space and was refused landing.

Israeli officials then relented and allowed the plane to continue circling. At that point, an Israeli air force jet intercepted the plane and allowed the Dagestan Airlines flight to land in the Uvda base in the southern desert.

The jet has been on a strip in the air force base since about 4 a.m. Sunday [9 p.m. EST Saturday].

"The prime minister is also the defense minister and this is the situation that requires the senior defense staff," Barak's chief aide, DannyYatom, said. "If things take a turn for the better on our way back we can always turn around."

An Israeli Cabinet meeting scheduled for Sunday was also cancelled to deal with what officials termed an emergency. At 7 a.m., the door of the jet was opened but nobody was allowed out of the aircraft.