PrintOctober 15, 2007
Israel and Lebanon in an Exchange of Prisoners?
Agence France Presse is reporting that Israel and Hezb'allah may carry out a prisoner swap today with the speculation being that two missing IDF soldiers from the 2006 Israeli-Lebanese War will be part of the deal:
"An exchange of bodies and a prisoner swap could take place this afternoon at the Naqura crossing betweeen Israel and Lebanon," said the source, who did not wish to be identified.Recent reports have suggested that the IDF men were moved to Iran and that Germany was trying to broker a deal for their release.
He said the two Hezbollah fighters died during the 34-day war last summer between the Shiite militant group and Israel in Lebanon, triggered by the militant group's capture of two Israeli soldiers in July.
It was not known whether the body of the Israeli soldier being returned belonged to one of those two servicemen, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. "We do not know when this soldier was killed," the source said.
An army report released last December said that the two soldiers were wounded, one seriously and another moderately, in the cross-border attack that led to their capture.
The condition of the men is still unknown as they have been denied Geneva Convention protections which would have given the Red Cross access to the prisoners.
Hezb'allah initially offered to exchange the solders for more than a thousands prisoners being held in Israeli jails, including several terrorists convicted of carrying out attacks on Israeli citizens that killed or wounded dozens. That deal was never considered and there has been no word from Hizb'allah about the prisoner's condition.
