Last update - 00:00 21/10/2007
Nasrallah: I did everything I could to solve Arad mystery
By Barak Ravid and Ayanawo Farada Sanbetu, Haaretz Correspondents
During the negotiations over last week's exchange between Israel and Hezbollah, Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah claimed he did everything possible to solve the mystery of missing airman Ron Arad. His comments on the deal will appear in the next issue of the German weekly Der Spiegel, to be published Monday.
Ofer Dekel, the prime minister's coordinator for missing soldiers, told Der Spiegel that despite the exchange of bodies, "we are not close to a final deal" for the release of captive Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who are being held by Hezbollah. Dekel said that Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese national being held for murdering members of a Nahariya family, "will not be part of any deal concerning the abducted soldiers."
Israel's 2004 offer on Kuntar still stands, he added: "We will not release him without receiving information about the fate of Ron Arad," Dekel told the German magazine.
As part of the exchange, Hezbollah transferred to Israel the body of Gabriel Dawit, a civilian who drowned off Israel's northern coast in 2005, and Israel gave Hezbollah the bodies of two men killed in last summer's war, as well as a mentally ill prisoner.
According to the article, Gerhard Conrad, the German intelligence official who brokered last week's deal, has been close to Hezbollah since heading a German intelligence mission in Beirut. Der Spiegel noted that Conrad maintained regular contact with Nasrallah aide Wafiq Safa and was present at the exchange.
Hezbollah gave Israel a letter written by Arad in 1988, which proves "that Hezbollah has at least part of the puzzle," although it does not provide details about his fate, Der Spiegel reported. Nasrallah was adamant that he has done all he can to determine what happened to Arad and now it is Israel's turn to respond, by agreeing to release Kuntar, it added.
On Thursday, Dekel met with the family of Gabriel Dawit and explained the events that led to the return of his body. He told them why the secrecy over the deal was maintained for months, and the Dawits asked Dekel to help them in recovering the personal effects found on the body. The family also asked to meet with Prof. Yehuda Hiss, head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir. A meeting was scheduled for later this week.
According to a government source, the meeting between Dekel and the Dawits "was very import, for us and for the family, and we hope they now understand the details of the affair."
Gabriel Dawit's nephew, Hanan Kasai, told Haaretz Saturday that the family received Dawit's Israeli identity card on Friday. "All the information we received at the meeting with Dekel was general and not specific to the case," Kasai said.
"This will not be accepted quietly, the family's fight will continue. At the meeting, we were told that as of July they knew that Hezbollah had a body in its possession. If the body was indeed found at sea, we want to know the percentage of salts and poisons in the body. We know the state knew at least a year ago that Hezbollah had a body," Kasai said.
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