Hizbullah: Swap negotiations 'serious'

Deputy leader says reservists will only be freed for all Lebanese prisoners.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
regev goldwasser 298 (photo credit: Channel 10)
regev goldwasser 298
(photo credit: Channel 10)
UN-mediated negotiations to secure a prisoner swap between Hizbullah and Israel are going on in a "serious" manner, but so far there have been no results, Hizbullah's deputy leader said Sunday. Sheik Naim Kassem also stressed that IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose capture by Hizbullah last summer triggered the 34-day Second Lebanon War, would be freed only in exchange for freedom of all Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. "The negotiations are serious and when they reach any result, it will be announced, because we have agreed not to announce details of the negotiations to secure their success and to keep them away from political and media blackmail," Kassem said. On the same day the two Israelis were captured, Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told a news conference that the two soldiers would be released only through a prisoner exchange with Israel. Israel had initially rejected calls for a prisoner swap to secure the soldiers' freedom, calling instead for their unconditional release. It later accepted a UN mediation in the case. A special UN envoy dispatched last September by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been mediating between Hizbullah and Israel on a possible prisoner swap. Hizbullah has not released any details on the conditions of Goldwasser and Regev or provided any sign they are still alive since their capture. Kassem hoped that the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hizbullah would end "quickly and in a better way," stressing that all Lebanese prisoners must be freed in any deal. "We are committed to this slogan regardless of the patience and sacrifices we endure. We are confident that the Israelis will eventually comply," he said. Kassem was speaking at a Hizbullah rally in a mosque in Beirut's war-devastated southern suburbs to mark the 28th anniversary of Samir Kantar's captivity in Israel. Kantar is serving a 542-year prison sentence in Israel for killing three Israelis during an attack in 1979 and is one of four men who Hizbullah demands be released by Israel. "There can be no solution to the prisoners' issue except through an equal exchange that will release our prisoners, on top of them is Samir Kantar," Kassem said, drawing cheers from the crowd that included Kantar's mother and family members. Israel says it will not release Kantar until it receives information about Ron Arad, an air force navigator who went missing after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. His fate is unknown. Israel and Hizbullah have had prisoner swaps in the past. During his visit to Lebanon last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed disappointment that there had been no progress toward the release of the two Israeli soldiers.