VARIOUS: ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS ISRAELI CABINET WILL VOTE ON PROPOSED PRISONER SWAP

Record ID: 328799

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS ISRAELI CABINET WILL VOTE ON PROPOSED PRISONER SWAP
  • Date: 7th November 2003
  • Summary: (EU) JERUSALEM (NOVEMBER 5, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER SILVAN SHALOM MEETING MARYLAND GOVERNOR ROBERT ERLICH (3 SHOTS) 0.11 2. MV SHALOM TALKING TO MEDIA; MV MEDIA; MV SHALOM AND ERLICH TALKING TO REPORTERS 0.18 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER SILVAN SHALOM SAYING "In the last few days there was positive progress and the prime minister has decided to bring it to a veto in the next meeting of the government this coming Sunday (November 9). I believe that all the details will be given to the ministers and everyone will have to decide how he is going to vote. It will not be easy. Any kind of decision I think will be criticized here in israeli public opinion." 1.05 4. MV REPORTERS AT MEETING; WIDE OF MEETING 1.10 5. MV ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON MEETING AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (AIPAC) DELEGATION MEMBERS; SCU SHARON; SLV AIPAC MEMBERS APPLAUDING 1.38 (EU) OFER CAMP, WEST BANK (FILE) (REUTERS) 6. SLV PAN EXTERIOR OF OFER CAMP WHERE ADMINISTRATIVE PRISONERS ARE BEING HELD; MV PALESTINIAN PRISONERS BEHIND BARS; SLV ISRAELI SOLDIERS AT CAMP 2.08 (EU) JERUSALEM (FILE) (REUTERS) 7. SCU LEBANESE ADMINISTRATIVE PRISONERS MUSTAFA DIRANI AND SHEIKH ABDEL KARIM OBEID AT ISRAELI HIGH COURT 2.30 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE ADMINISTRATIVE PRISONER MUSTAFA DIRANI SAYING "That is the way it should be. If there is justice we should be in Lebanon." 2.37 9. SCU ISRAELI CO-ORDINATOR OF GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES AMOS GILAD 2.40 10. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF ISRAELI NAVIGATOR CAPTURED BY HIZBOLLAH IN 1986, RON ARAD'S (2 SHOTS) 2.48 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM / OFER CAMP, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA63QGERF8OVDH0VO2D24SFFTM2
  • Story Text: Israeli foreign minister says the Israeli cabinet
    will vote Sunday on proposed prisoners swap.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office
    announced on Wednesday (November 5) that he will seek
    cabinet approval on Sunday (November 9) for a proposed
    prisoner exchange with Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah
    in a sign that a deal could be nearing completion.

    "In the last few days there was positive progress and
    the Prime Minister decided to bring it to a vote in the
    next meeting of the government this coming Sunday," Israeli
    Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters.

    Under the deal Israel will swap around 400 Palestinian
    and Lebanese prisoners, as well as two senior Hizbollah
    officials, for an Israeli businessman kidnapped by
    Hizbollah three years ago and the bodies of three soldiers.

    The cabinet will be asked to endorse the main
    principles of the exchange as some unresolved issues
    remain, diplomatic sources were quoted by Israeli media.

    They said Sharon felt it important to get cabinet
    approval for central elements of the agreement before
    wrapping it up.

    Hizbollah had no immediate comment. Hizbollah leader
    Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said earlier this week that he
    expected the prisoner exchange deal to be completed by next
    week.

    Security analysts in Lebanon and Israel have said
    Nasrallah would like the swap to take place over the Muslim
    holy month of Ramadan as it would add to his prestige and
    that of his Iranian- and Syrian-backed group. Ramadan ends
    in late November.

    Israeli army radio said the prisoner exchange would not
    include information on the fate of missing Israeli airman
    Ron Arad, who bailed out from a crippled fighter jet over
    south Lebanon in 1986. He was last heard of in 1987.

    Israel abducted Hizbollah spiritual leader Sheikh Abdel
    Karim Obeid and Lebanese guerrilla commander Mustafa Dirani
    in commando raids in the early 1990s with the intention of
    using them as bargaining chips for Arad's release.

    But Sharon has recently said that by holding the two
    Israel would not come any closer to finding out about
    Arad's fate. Israeli officials believe he is being held in
    Iran.

    Guerrilla attacks by Hizbollah operatives against
    Israeli troops helped spur the Jewish state to withdraw its
    forces from south Lebanon in May 2000 after 22 years of
    occupation. Hizbollah border attacks have continued,
    including an incident in October 2000 in which guerrillas
    disguised as U.N. peacekeepers snatched three soldiers from the border.

    Israel later declared the soldiers dead. Hizbollah has
    declined to confirm whether they are alive or dead.




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