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| Middle East |
| Hizbullah wants to free Marwan in prisoner enchange |
| 2002-06-28 |
| A Lebanese daily indicated stepped-up mediation efforts toward a prisoner enchange between Israel and Hizbullah, possibly including jailed Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti. The Beirut newspaper Al Mustaqbal said Hizbullah was seeking a broad prisoner exchange that could include Barghouti. According to the report, the Lebanese resistance group was demanding a general deal, not only transfer of information or pictures of the kidnapped soldiers. There's a difference between this sort of thing and kidnap for ransom gangs like Abu Sayyaf. I just can't think what it is... On the other hand, the newspaper said, Israel demands that Hizbullah first send information on the state of Adi Avitan, Omar Suwaed and Benny Avraham, who were kidnapped from the the Israeli - Lebanese border area in October 2000. The Israeli army announced several months ago that the three were killed during their capture. For its part, Hizbullah has been refusing to disclose such information, because it demands a return for every piece of information it gives Israel. It certainly wouldn't be beyond them to trade three corpses for a live thug... The Lebanese daily, owned by Prime Minister, Rafic al Hariri, reported that contacts mediated by a German citizen and the International Red Cross recently brought about the release of Hizbullah member Mohammed al Barzawi from an Israeli prison two weeks ago. Additionally, it described the transfer of captive Shiite cleric Abdel-Karim Obeid, and Mustafa Dirani from an Israeli military prison to a civilian prison âa sign of positive developmentsâ in the contacts between Israel and Hizbullah. According to Al Mustaqbal, the Lebanese group was showing a great deal of interest in the release of Barghouti. It aims at including Barghouti in the prisoner deal, as well as other Palestinian detainees. The paper assessed Israel was likely to meet Hizbullah's request to free some Palestinian detainees. This is the sort of thing that has to be done now and then, I guess, but it's best not to look, and don't even forget to turn on the exhaust fan. I'd sure as hell hate to see Marwan walk, though. He'll do a lot less harm in the pokey. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |