Exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hezbollah
Beirut ( AsiaNews) After years of negotiations, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel reached an agreement yesterday, Jan. 24, regarding an exchange of prisoners. The Germany Embassy in Lebanon, acting as a mediator with the help of Iran, made the news public.
Al-Manar, the Hezbollah TV network, listed the names of 23 Lebanese who will be freed, among whom is sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Al- Dirani, as well as 12 other Arab prisoners (of which 5 are Syrian, 3 Moroccan, 3 Sudanese and 1 Libyan citizen as well as a German accused of being an Islamic fundamentalist). Israel has also confirmed the news in an official statement released by the Israel Prime Minister's Office: "In exchange for the return of Israeli captives, the State of Israel will release prisoners from their detention centers." In the statement Israel thanked Germany but no reference was made to the Hezbollah.
During the night Israeli sources said there were talks taking place at Israel's ministry of defense headquarters to decide the way in which prisoners would be exchanged. The same Israeli sources expect, less there be any complications, that such an exchange will occur as of Jan. 27.
Germany, which played a principle role in resolving the issue of prisoners, believes the exchange process will be carried out in 2 phases.
In the first phase the Lebanese Hezbollah will free Elhanan Tannenbaum, a former Israeli army official captured in 2000, and the remains of three soldiers taken prisoner in 2000 in southern Lebanon. In exchange Israel will likely release 400 Palestinians from occupied territories and the Gaza Strip, in addition the 35 above mentioned prisoners, according to information gathered by the German Embassy in Beirut.
The German mediator, Ernst Uhrlau, told journalists that "the prisoners will have to pass through Germany first before returning" home to their loved ones.
The Hezbollah press office announce that by today, Sunday, there were will be a press conference given by the Hezbollah Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, to speak about the agreement that was reached.
Despite being pressured by Hezbollah officials, the Israeli government made it known that it will not release the 41-year old member of the Palestinian Liberation Front (of Abu Abbas) , Samir Al Qantari, who was sentenced to 542 years in prison for killing 3 Israeli soldiers Nahariya, in northern Israel, in 1979, until it obtained "concrete information on the pilot, Ron Arad" whose aircraft was downed in 1986 in Lebanon. Israeli officials believe that he is still alive.
Yesterday evening the Al-Jazeera television network aired interviews with the mothers of Syrian prisoners from Golan heights: they were preparing to welcome their sons' return home from prison, taking out the prisoners' clothes from closets as if they had remained there for years on end as relics. (PB)
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