Last update - 02:23 23/04/2007
Hezbollah: Prisoner exchange talks with Israel are 'serious'
By The Associated Press
BEIRUT - United Nations-mediated negotiations to secure a prisoner swap between Hezbollah and Israel are transpiring in a serious manner, but so far there have been no results, Hezbollah's deputy leader said yesterday.
Sheikh Naim Kassem also stressed that the two Israeli soldiers, whose capture by Hezbollah last summer triggered a 34-day war between the two sides, would be freed only in exchange for the freedom of all Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.
"The negotiations are serious and when they reach any result, it will be announced, because we have agreed not to announce details of the negotiations to secure their success and to keep them away from political and media blackmail," Kassem said.
A special UN envoy dispatched in September by then-UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has been mediating between Hezbollah and Israel on a possible prisoner swap.
Hezbollah has not released any details on the conditions of the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, or provided any sign they are still alive since their capture.
Kassem hoped that the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hezbollah would end quickly and in a better way, stressing that all Lebanese prisoners must be freed in any deal.
"We are committed to this slogan regardless of the patience and sacrifices we endure. We are confident that the Israelis will eventually comply," he said.
Kassem was speaking at a Hezbollah rally at a mosque in Beirut's war-devastated southern suburbs to mark the 28th anniversary of Samir Kuntar's captivity in Israel. Kuntar is serving a 542-year prison sentence in Israel for killing three Israelis during an attack in 1979 and is one of four men who Hezbollah demands be released by Israel.
"There can be no solution to the prisoners' issue except through an equal exchange that will release our prisoners, on top of them is Samir Kuntar," Kassem said, drawing cheers from the crowd that included Kuntar's mother and other relatives.
Israel says it will not release Kuntar until it receives information about Ron Arad, an air force navigator who went missing after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. His fate is unknown.
Israel and Hezbollah have conducted prisoner swaps in the past.
During his visit to Lebanon last month, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed disappointment that there had been no progress toward the release of the two Israeli soldiers.