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Missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad. (AP) Last update - 00:26 28/05/2008 Sources: Hezbollah to give Israel report on efforts to find Ron Arad By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Ehud Goldwasser, Ron Arad  Israel may soon receive a report from Lebanon-based guerilla group Hezbollah detailing its failed attempts to locate missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, sources said Tuesday. The report will be submitted as part of a lingering obligation from the 2004 prisoner exchange agreement with Israel to supply information regarding the airman's whereabouts in exchange for the release of Samir Kuntar, the sources added. Kuntar, a Lebanese terrorist convicted of killing four Israelis in 1979, is currently serving four life sentences in an Israeli prison. Current negotiations over the release of Israel Defense Forces soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, kidnapped by Hezbollah in July 2006, have revolved around the release of Kuntar. Advertisement Israeli intelligence sources have confirmed that since 2004, Hezbollah has made significant efforts to locate Arad's whereabouts, where they believe he was buried, but the efforts have been unfruitful. Earlier Tuesday, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that Israel had conceded its demand to receive substantive information about Arad in exchange for the release of Kuntar. According to the report, Hezbollah notified a German United Nations mediator that it was not willing to accept Israel's demand to release only Lebanese prisoners, and stressed that there will be no swap without Kuntar's release. On Monday, Israeli sources reported that a prisoner swap agreement was imminent, and that Hezbollah was expected to return to Israel the two captive soldiers in exchange for six Lebanese prisoners, including Kuntar, and the remains of ten Hezbollah fighters currently held in Israel. The release of Kuntar will require a cabinet decision, and a draft of the agreement will likely be brought before the cabinet. Sources involved in similar exchange deals in the past told Haaretz that the completion of the deal could still take "weeks to months." This is because even if an exchange was agreed upon, as yet unconfirmed reports intimate, then there are still many details that must be tended to before an actual exchange can take place, including the logistics and the timetable. Meanwhile, military and political officials have made several remarks saying that there was no point in releasing living Lebanese militants in exchange for bodies of dead soldiers, if they are not alive. However, sources say, it appears that this will be the nature of the exchange. Security sources said that the small number of prisoners would be a reasonable price to pay for what could possibly turn out to be the remains of the soldiers, especially in light of the fact that an executed deal would close the "Lebanon file" that lingers following the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Israel has in the past exchanged living prisoners for dead bodies of soldiers. Convicted Lebanese spy's family says release imminent A Lebanese-Israeli man who was sentenced to six years in jail by Israel in 2002 for having contacts with the militant Hezbollah group will be released in less than a week, his family said Tuesday. Nasim Nisr's Israeli lawyers contacted the family and told them he will be released Sunday and deported to Lebanon, the prisoner's older brother, Omran, told The Associated Press. But he said his 39-year-old brother's release was not part of a prisoner swap hinted at by Nasrallah. Israel has not commented publicly on Nasim's potential release or on Nasrallah's prediction Monday that Israel will release Lebanese prisoners it is holding very soon. Nasim was born in Lebanon to a Jewish mother and a Shiite Muslim father. He decided years ago to emigrate under an Israeli law permitting all Jews to become citizens, even those from enemy countries. Israel and Lebanon have officially been in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948. The prisoner's mother, Valentine Sayegh, said Nasim went with her to Israel in 1992 on one of her visits to see relatives who emigrated to the Jewish state from Lebanon decades ago. Sayegh, who has converted to Shiite Islam, returned to Lebanon, but Nasim decided to stay. "I haven't seen him in 16 years," said the 72-year-old mother, wearing an Islamic veil and holding back tears. "The news is great because I was told that, God willing, he will come on Sunday." Nasim's wife, Ruthi, has insisted that he did not spy for Hezbollah, only spoke by telephone with members of the militia at the request of his Lebanese family. She did not explain what the group wanted from the family. Asked Tuesday if Nasim had any links with Hezbollah before he went to Israel, his mother said she did not know. But Omran said his brother was known for his anti-Israeli sentiments. Nasim got married twice to women of Russian origin in Israel. He has a 10-year-old son from his first wife and two daughters, 10 and 7, from his current marriage. "We want to know what will be the fate of his family," said Omran, adding that it will be difficult for his brother to contact his family when he returns to Lebanon because the two countries are still in a state of war. Nasim's hometown of Bazouriyeh, nestled in the hills east of the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, is also the birthplace of Nasrallah. Pictures of Nasrallah and other Shiite clerics in turbans decorate the town's roads. As Omran spoke about his brother Nasim, he sat under a poster of Nasrallah with a caption reading "a nation that leaves its prisoners in jails is a nation with no honor or dignity." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fight club Jerusalem camera catches brutal attack by Jewish teens on Arab youths. Unbrotherly behavior Rights group: Palestinian governments violate human rights in quest for control.   1.   What`s wrong w/ Haaretz editors??? 23:41  |  DRZH 27/05/08   2.   First have Int`l. Red Cross determine that the two are alive 23:49  |  Nate 27/05/08   3.   as part of a lingering obligation ??? 23:50  |  Avi 27/05/08   4.   Where is fatty Narsrallah hiding? 23:51  |  Avi 27/05/08   5.   The day Nasrallah goes on a diet... I will be impressed 23:57  |  Avi 27/05/08   6.   It`s difficult not to have contempt for the IDF`s top 00:04  |  Absolute Sweden 28/05/08   7.   Good article 00:23  |  Alex 28/05/08   8.   Avi kiss my ass 00:51  |  Eli 28/05/08   9.   It`s nice to see Israel negotiating with TERRORIST. 01:05  |  POP 28/05/08   10.   To Avi 3 & 4 01:22  |  Ghassan 28/05/08   11.   trade bodies for bodies 01:33  |  ankhfnkhonsu 28/05/08   12.   KUNTAR IS A MONSTER 03:22  |  steve dill 28/05/08   13.   nasrallah 05:13  |  Telling the Truth 28/05/08   14.   I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW A JEW WOMAN CAN BECOMES ISLAMIC ?? CRAZY IS 17:13  |  michael darmon 28/05/08

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