- Title: ISRAEL: Israelis move prisoners ahead of swap with Hezbollah
- Date: 16th July 2008
- Summary: (W1) NEAR ROSH HANIKRA, ISRAEL (REUTERS) PRISONERS' CONVOY ARRIVING AT MILITARY FACILITY
- Embargoed: 31st July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAEAQ1U6JKI0RHH9IO365RBFFSW
- Story Text: An Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap were launched in Wednesday (July 16) as five Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Qantar, left Israeli prison and arrived at a military facility where they will await swap.
Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group were set to swap prisoners on Wednesday in a deal that stands to settle a key dispute that triggered a month-long war of two years ago.
Under a lopsided deal mediated by a German intelligence officer, Israel was to free five prisoners in exchange for two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas in a 2006 cross-border raid, who are both believed dead, government officials said.
Israel will also hand over the bodies of 200 Arabs killed while infiltrating northern Israel, and Hezbollah will return the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in south Lebanon.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had been asked by both Israel and Hezbollah to arrange the exchange, due to begin around 9:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Wednesday, in a complex process that could take hours.
Hezbollah was expected to hand over the soldiers, and only after they were identified, Israel would begin to free prisoners and guerrillas' remains to Lebanon, Israeli media said.
The Israeli army said it had sealed the border area late on Tuesday night in preparation for the exchange.
The most controversial of the prisoners slated for release, from Israel's standpoint, was Samir Qantar, who had been serving a life prison term for the deaths of four Israelis in a 1979 attack with a Palestinian guerrilla group on an Israeli town.
Israeli President Shimon Peres set in the prisoner swap in motion by issuing a formal pardon for Qantar, one of Israel's most reviled prisoners for his role in that attack.
Israel's cabinet approved the deal overwhelmingly by a vote of 22-3 on Tuesday. Several ministers dissented against trading prisoners for the bodies of soldiers.
Qantar has been one of Israel's most reviled prisoners for his involvement in an attack in which witnesses said he killed a four-year-old girl by smashing her head against a stone with his rifle butt, after fatally shooting her father.
The girl's younger toddler sister was also killed, but by her mother who accidentally smothered her while trying to keep her from crying as they hid in an overhead closet from Qantar and three other guerrillas who had burst into their home.
Qantar, who was 17 at the time, has said that the father was shot by Israeli soldiers who also wounded him, and that he doesn't remember what happened to the older girl. Two other Israelis also died in the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had described Qantar as the last bargaining chip for word on the fate of Israeli airman Ron Arad, who disappeared after bailing out during a bombing run on Lebanon in 1986.
But Israel said a report supplied by Hezbollah on Arad had failed to shed new light on his fate.
Hezbollah has made Qantar's freedom a central demand. Many in Lebanon believe Israel's refusal to free Qantar earlier prompted Hezbollah's cross-border raid in 2006 that led to a war that killed some 1,200 Lebanese and 159 Israelis.
The other Lebanese prisoners being released were identified as Maher Qorani, Mohammad Srour, Hussein Suleiman and Khodr Zeidan. They were expected to receive a heroic welcome of fireworks and rallies in Lebanon, where a public holiday was declared. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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