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Olmert at the Cabinet meeting (Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff June 29, 2008 |
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| A demonstration for the Israeli prisoners earlier this year (Flash 90) |
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday called on ministers to approve a prisoner swap with Hizbullah that would see the release of murderer Samir Kuntar and other Lebanese prisoners in exchange for IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev or, more likely, their dead bodies.His call, which came before a cabinet vote on the subject, ignores the warnings of the heads of Mossad and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), who urged ministers to reject the deal. His support assured passage of the deal by a subsequent vote, 22-3.
The ministers were given the various assessments as to whether Regev and Goldwasser are still alive. Mossad's Meir Dagan and ISA's Yuval Diskin said that releasing Kuntar in the current circumstances would strengthen Hizbullah and other terror groups, encourage further abductions, and harm negotiations for the release of soldier Gilad Schalit, held by Hamas in Gaza. While Dekel and the IDF back the deal, Dagan is opposed, arguing that Kuntar -- who killed three members of the Haran family, including two small children, and a policement in Nahariya in 1979 -- should only be released in exchange for reliable information on IAF navigator Ron Arad, who was captured alive in Lebanon in 1986.
The last time the cabinet dealt with a prisoner swap was in November 2003, when it voted 12 to 11 to approve a deal that included the release of Elhanan Tannenbaum and the remains of St.-Sgts. Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Sawayid in exchange for some 400 Palestinian security prisoners without "blood on their hands" and several dozen prisoners from Lebanon and other Arab countries. Then-prime minister Ariel Sharon forcefully pushed for the deal.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a Saturday meeting with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, that "as a soldier and as someone who has commanded soldiers and is defense minister, I have determined that we have a military and ethical responsibility to have [the kidnapped soldiers] returned home - alive or dead."
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"We do know what happened to Eldad [Regev] and Udi [Ehud Goldwasser]... As far as we know, the soldiers are not alive.... Evidence suggests they died in the raid in which they were captured or shortly after."
PM Ehud Olmert, in a prepared statement given to the cabinet and released by his office.
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At the start of the meeting, Olmert paid lip service to the seriousness of the decide, saying that the government had the obligation to "deliberate" over the prisoner swap as it would have an impact on the lives of all Israelis. "There is no doubt that today's discussion has special weight and is exceptionally sensitive in terms of its national and moral implications," he said. "Even those with the utmost responsibility, like myself, have the right, and the obligation of deliberation, as the deal will have an impact on our lives in the coming years," Olmert told ministers.
"We have a collective responsibility of the highest degree, and we need to be able to look the Regev, Goldwasser, Heren, Arad, and Schalit families in the eyes," Olmert said. But apparently the Israelis were unable to stand fast on their previous demand to require a sign of life from Goldwasser and Regev before agreeing to a deal.
The Chief Rabbi of the IDF Brigadier-General Avichai Ronsky has been deliberating whether to declared the abducted soldiers "Killed in Action." YnetNews reports today that he reached a conclusion last Tuesday night that the information presented to him is enough to declare them dead, but delayed his announcement so as not to interfere with the Cabinet deliberation. But the Cabinet and senior security officials were privy to his considerations and conclusions before the vote.
The Prime Minister tried to defend himself against the charge that he was giving away the last major "bargaining chip" for captured airman Capt. Ron Arad, whose jet was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. "There is a fundamental difference between the knowledge we have regarding the fate of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser and the fate of Ron Arad," Olmert said. "For more than 20 years after Arad's disappearance, we have not had confirmed information on what happened to him," he said.
"But we do know what happened to Eldad and Udi [Ehud]... As far as we know, the soldiers are not alive," Olmert said, according to a prepared statement given to the cabinet and released by his office. "Evidence suggests they died in the raid in which they were captured or shortly after."
Goldwasser's father, Shlomo, said he was not surprised by the declaration, but wanted proof the soldiers were dead. There have been assessments for a long time, he said. But none of this matters because it is not fact. ... They were alive when they kidnapped and no one has provided us with evidence to the contrary."
Dozens of demonstrators gathered near the Knesset on Sunday morning to show support for a prisoner swap with Hizbullah, including family members and friends of Goldwasser and Regev. Miki Goldwasser's mother, Ehud's mother, urged the cabinet ministers to take the decision personally and put themselves in the shoes of the abducted soldiers' families. "I would like everyone to look into my eyes and understand that there is a mother waiting for her son, a wife waiting for her husband, fathers waiting for their sons," Miki told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night.
"After all we have been through for two years and after the deal was made already and signed by both sides -- Israel and Hizbullah -- I want them to explain to me why we cannot finish this saga," she said. She claimed there is a body of evidence to indicate that they were captured alive: "[Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallah said that he took two Israeli soldiers alive," she said, adding that Hizbullah had ambulances waiting for them and that they had the medical knowledge to treat their wounds. "We know that Nasrallah wanted them alive," she said.
The exchange is expected to take place "within a matter of days," one government source said, unless their is a last-minute "snag."
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