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Last update - 17:36 03/08/2008
Israel to free 5 Palestinians in final stage of Hezbollah swap
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Hezbollah, prisoner swap 

The cabinet on Sunday morning approved the release of five Palestinian prisoners on Sunday as part of the final stage of a prisoner swap with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

The prisoners set for release were named as Yousef Zidan, Ahmed Zahran, Attalla Gadallah, Zekariah Mahmed, Ahmed Shurbagi and Shahdi Harsha, all aged 15 and 16.

The five were security prisoners that are not included in the category of prisoners with "blood on their hands," a category generally used to describe prisoners who were involved in terror attacks in which Israelis died. The prisoners were arrested for stone-throwing, and were set to be released in the coming months.
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Last month, Israel released five Lebanese prisoners, included notorious terrorist Samir Kuntar, in exchange for the bodies of Israel Defense Forces reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were abducted by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid in July 2006.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to present the cabinet with a document authorizing the ministerial panel charged with prisoner affairs to select the five Palestinians it wishes to release within the framework of the deal.

The source added that the prime minister decided to release only five prisoners due to the unsatisfactory nature of the report Hezbollah supplied Israel on its efforts to determine the fate of missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who disappeared after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. The report, a part of the prisoner exchange deal, did not include any new information and was considered to have failed to meet the terms of the deal.

During a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Paris several weeks ago, Olmert announced that in light of the unsatisfactory report, Israel will only release a handful of prisoners, and will retain the sole right to determine their identities. Thus, Olmert told Ban, Israel will view the prisoner exchange deal as having been completed.


Related articles:
  • Olmert: Hezbollah report on fate of Ron Arad is 'absolutely unsatisfactory'
  • Regev and Goldwasser to receive military funerals Thursday
  • Lebanon: Hezbollah prisoner swap marks 'failure' for Israel
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      1.   Olmert got this one right, amazing. 21:20  |  Ilan 02/08/08
      2.   I beg to differ, Ilan 00:15  |  Elihu 03/08/08
      3.   I am still thinking he was bribed by Hizballa 07:10  |  Vladimir 03/08/08
      4.   I think it is called minimizing damage 08:02  |  Ilan 03/08/08
      5.   Only 5 08:07  |  yuval 03/08/08
      6.   Prisoner exchange??????? 09:25  |  Wha????? 03/08/08
      7.   The right step would have been ... 12:04  |  Elihu 03/08/08
      8.   wow 18:52  |  rm 03/08/08
      9.   5? 19:10  |  Jacob 03/08/08
      10.   Wise up, Hamas! 23:24  |  Jim 03/08/08
      11.   the last slapped in the face 05:29  |  jg 04/08/08
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