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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Report: Israel, Hizbullah move towards prisoner exchange |
| 2007-07-08 |
| A flurry of reports over the weekend had a government envoy speaking with security prisoners to pave the way for a prisoner exchange with Hizbullah and with Hamas. An official in the Prime Minister's Office, however, denied reports late Saturday night that former Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) deputy chief Ofer Dekel, the prime minister's appointee for dealings regarding kidnapped soldiers and other captives, met 10 days ago with Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar. Kuntar, according to the report in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, said there was real progress on a deal to release kidnapped soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. The official told The Jerusalem Post that, about a month ago, when Dekel was in the Hadarim Prison, Kuntar tried to engage Dekel in a conversation. Dekel refused to respond and no conversation took place, the official said. A report in another Arab newspaper had Dekel holding talks in recent weeks with senior Hamas members in an Israeli jail, reporting progress on a prisoner swap that could free Cpl. Gilad Schalit, according to a lawyer close to the talks. Al-Ayyam claimed Dekel had met with Kuntar, a Lebanese serving a life sentence for killing the Haran family from Naharyia 30 years ago and whose return Hizbullah has been demanding. Reportedly, Kuntar told Dekel there was real progress on the topic of releasing the two reservists kidnapped on Lebanon-Israel border. The July 2006 event was Israel's catalyst for the Second Lebanon War. According to Al-Ayyam, Dekel told Kuntar the main obstacle for the materialization of a prisoner exchange deal was Hizbullah's demand that Palestinian prisoners also be released. The reported meeting took place in Hadarim Prison in central Israel, where numerous Palestinian prisoners are held, former Fatah general-secretary Marwan Barghouti among them. Reportedly, Dekel met several Palestinian prisoners but insisted on meeting Kuntar, considered one of the senior Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. Al-Ayyam sources said the transfer last week of four Jordanian prisoners held for murdering Israelis to Jordan was tied to progress in the deal to release Regev and Goldwasser, and also Schalit, held for over a year by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The reason quoted was Jordan's approval to receive its four jailed nationals, as compared with the Hashemite kingdom's refusal to include them in a previous deal during which Elhanan Tannenbaum and the dead bodies of IDF soldiers Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Sawayid. Sources reported that a senior German intelligence official, known as "Mayer," was continuing his role as mediator and assisting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. The contact between the sides reached the stage of names of prisoners and the number of prisoners to be released. |
| Posted by:Fred |