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Prisoner exchange with Hezbullah - Israeli receives 2 dead bodies
Israel releases prisoners after Hezbollah delivers remains of soldiers
By Isabel Kershner and Graham Bowley
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
ROSH HANIKRA, Israel: Two black coffins containing the remains of Israeli soldiers were carried on Red Cross trucks across the border with Lebanon on Wednesday, part of a long-awaited prisoner exchange between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
In return, Israel released five Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Kuntar, convicted in Israel of a notorious murder and who had been held for nearly three decades. The prisoners were transferred across the border into Lebanon and later flown to Beirut airport for an official government welcome.
The coffins were handed over to the Israeli military at the Rosh Hanikra border crossing on the coast high above the Mediterranean. Hezbollah said they held the remains of the Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured two years ago in a raid that started the war between Hezbollah and Israel.
After the transfer, Israel said that its forensic tests confirmed that the remains were those of the soldiers, setting the stage for its release of the Lebanese prisoners, including Kuntar, and dozens of infiltrators' bodies.
The prisoners were then taken across the border into Lebanon, said Major Avital Leibovich, an army spokeswoman.
Lebanese television showed the prisoners, including Kuntar, at the welcoming ceremony on the Lebanese side of the border at Nakkoura. They were shown in military uniform walking on a red carpet and shaking hands and kissing officials and later sitting on a stage as they listened to the welcoming speeches.
The transfer of the two coffins was the first confirmation by Hezbollah that the Israeli soldiers were dead. Hezbollah had refused to clarify whether the men had been killed at the time of their capture in 2006 or afterward, although it had long been assumed in Israel that they were no longer alive.
"At this time, we are unified as one big family," said Leibovich, the army spokeswoman. "We have been successful in bringing our sons home but it is very emotional and painful."
In exchange for its soldiers, Israel had agreed to hand over Kuntar, a convicted murderer and one of Israel's most notorious prisoners, as well as the other Lebanese prisoners and the bodies of dozens of infiltrators.
The deal with Hezbollah has stirred an especially painful debate in Israel. Kuntar was part of a cell that in 1979 raided the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, fatally shooting a civilian, Danny Haran, while his daughter Einat, 4, watched, then smashing the girl's head, killing her. Haran's wife, Smadar, hid with their 2-year-old daughter, accidentally suffocating her in an effort to stop her from crying out.
Kuntar was 16 at the time of the raid.
Earlier Wednesday, Kuntar and the other prisoners were brought into northern Israel before being taken to the border crossing, officials said. Red Cross officials said nearly 200 bodies had been exhumed on the Israeli side and transferred to 10 Red Cross trucks which would later move them to the Lebanese border.
Kuntar has said he regrets nothing, and he will likely receive a hero's welcome when he returns to Lebanon.
Later Wednesday, he and the other Lebanese prisoners were reportedly flown in a Lebanese presidential helicopter to Beirut airport for a welcoming ceremony to be attended by Lebanon's new president and former army chief, Michel Suleiman, and other government officials.
There was to be a second, later ceremony in the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs. That ceremony was to be addressed by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, although it was unclear whether he would make his address in person or via television link. On the road leading to Beirut airport on Wednesday, banners welcomed the prisoners and congratulated Hezbollah in securing their release.
At the Rosh Hanikra border crossing, on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean and the coast of Israel, security was tight with Israeli Navy boats patrolling in the waters below.
Although Israel has a history of trading large numbers of prisoners to obtain the release of captured soldiers, the prospect of exchanging a despised prisoner for bodies has raised hackles. There is also considerable mistrust of Hezbollah and fears that its seeming success in obtaining Kuntar's release will only encourage it to attack again.
After tests confirmed the bodies were those of the Israeli soldiers, two of the army's most senior commanders each visited the families of Goldwasser and Regev to inform them of the bodies' arrival.
The remains were than taken from the border to a nearby army base where relatives of the two men were to see the coffins.
RIP
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