Last update - 00:00 25/10/2006
Report: UN mediator in talks with Hezbollah so far unsuccessful
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
The United Nations special envoy responsible for mediating between Israel and Hezbollah in an effort to secure the release of the Israeli captives in Lebanon has so far been unsuccessful, Arabic-language daily Al Hayat reported Tuesday.
"The prevailing impression is that Hezbollah is not interested in resolving the matter," reported the newspaper, which is published in London and Beirut.
Israel, by contrast, sees the resolution of the issue as a central part of the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, aimed at ending this summer's war in Lebanon.
The German weekly Der Spiegel reported Monday that the special envoy appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mediate between Israel and Hezbollah is a German intelligence agent who was involved in previous Israel-Hezbollah talks. Dubbed "Mr. Hezbollah," the mediator has visited Beirut, Jerusalem and UN headquarters in New York several times over the last few weeks, the paper reported.
The German government approached Annan about the mediator, and Annan appointed him after the two met in Madrid at the beginning of September.
Hezbollah has said several times since the end of the conflict that it will accept any mediator accepted by Israel. It has not announced the conditions under which it will release the Israel Defense Forces soldiers it kidnapped on July 12, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, but Hezbollah is expected to demand the release of Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar.