Israel Cabinet OKs prisoner swap
A notorious Lebanese killer will be traded for two Israeli soldiers who are believed to be dead.
JERUSALEM — Closing an uneasy chapter of its 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel prepared to swap the most notorious Lebanese convict in its prisons today for two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the fighting and who are believed to be dead.
The deal, approved by Israel's Cabinet on Tuesday, revived raw emotions on both sides of the 34-day conflict: Israel's frustration over its failure to crush an Arab foe and Hezbollah's euphoria in holding off a powerful army until a U.N.-brokered truce.
But it promised closure in the case of Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured on the battlefield and left to a fate kept secret by the militant Islamic group.
Under the planned exchange, a Lebanese militant convicted of murdering two adults and a child is to be escorted to a seaside border crossing and return home, unrepentant, to a festive, government-sponsored hero's welcome.
In turn, a somber Israel is ready to accept what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he believes to be true, that the two reservists are coming home in coffins.
Painful though it is for Israelis, the arrangement reflects their country's tradition of sparing no effort to retrieve captured soldiers or their remains. It is also the result of a tenacious campaign by the missing soldiers' families to sway officials who were reluctant to give up a high-value prisoner.
"It's not a happy choice," Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday before signing a pardon for the convict, Samir Kuntar. "On one hand, we have the most terrible murderer. On the other hand, we have our commitment to our boys who were sent to fight for their country. It is our moral duty and our heartfelt wish to see them come back."
Kuntar and four other Lebanese prisoners being freed in the swap are to arrive today at a reception at Beirut's airport with Lebanon's president and prime minister. Thousands of plastic chairs were being set up for a rally in their honor in the capital's southern suburbs. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah was expected to speak there.
Israel was also sending Lebanon the dug-up remains of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters killed in clashes over the years.
The deal, following 18 months of talks through German mediators under U.N. auspices, won Israeli approval despite a late hitch. The Cabinet said an 80-page Hezbollah report on what happened to an Israeli airman shot down over Lebanon 22 years ago sheds no new light on his possible whereabouts and "does not meet the conditions of the agreement."
- Caught in the crossfire Jul 19, 2006
- Hezbollah, Israel Clash Along Lebanese Border Jun 30, 2005
- U.N. Envoy Confers in Israel on Hostage Deal Aug 25, 1991
