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Thousands of protestors at rally urging government to secure the release of Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Schalit (Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff October 17, 2007 |
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Israeli officials have agreed to swap nine Lebanese prisoners and an unnamed number of Palestinian and Arab prisoners for abducted reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, according to Israel Radio. However there has been no mention of whether the two reservists are alive.
The Saudi paper al Watan said on Wednesday that the deal came after Hezbollah reportedly provided Israel with exact information on the reservists' whereabouts -- precise enough in detail to convince the Israeli government to agree to a deal, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Regev's brother said he was not impressed with the information released regarding Eldad.
"In my opinion, progress should be accompanied by something tangible, like the possibility of a Red Cross visit, or the transfer of reliable information on the captives' condition," Eldad Regev's brother, Benny,said, according to Ynet.
Hezbollah also gave Israel some information on missing IAF navigator Ron Arad, but the terrorist organization did not report anything new. The group claims not to know his whereabouts.
Israel is also purportedly considering the release of Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, largely considered to be the Jewish state's bargaining chip for information on Arad. It is unclear whether Israel would close a deal with Hezbollah that would exclude the navigator, missing since 1986.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah confirmed the movement in negotiations, which had long been at a standstill due to Nasrallah's disproportionate demands.
"I assert that there are strenuous negotiations, continuing sessions that will be resumed within days," Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television station.
"For the first time, I can speak about hope, about optimism and about positive progress and about an opportunity to reach a great achievement and a full exchange," Hezbollah's leader said. "I can speak for the first time about positive progress in the main negotiations over the two soldiers and the prisoners," he continued.
The prime minister's office did not comment on the reports. |
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