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Abducted IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev (Archives)
Last update - 10:59 26/06/2008
Israel and Hezbollah ready to sign on prisoner swap deal
By Barak Ravid, Yossi Melman, and Jack Khoury
Tags: Ehud Goldwasser, Hezbollah 

Israel and Hezbollah have prepared a written agreement on a prisoner exchange that the cabinet will deliberate on Sunday and possible approve. If approved, Israel will sign the deal that will then be taken to Beirut by the German mediators for Hezbollah's signature.

The deal with Hezbollah aims to secure the release of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured in a cross-border raid by the Lebanese guerillas in July 2006, sparking the Second Lebanon War.

The cabinet will meet Sunday to hear a briefing and deliberate over the prisoner exchange deal Israel reached with Hezbollah through German mediation. Ofer Dekel, the official charged with the negotiations on all the prisoners, will brief the ministers and respond to their questions.
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So far the deal with Hezbollah is described in official Israeli circles as "a framework agreement."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he believes "we will be able to reach the moment of decision with a clear conscience."

Speaking in the Knesset on Wednesday, Olmert said that "among decisions facing a prime minister, this is one of the most difficult. On the balance, along with the boys and their families, are sadness, pain and values on which we have grown as a nation and a state. All these are stripped off in one hard and complex moment when a decision needs to be made and we will make it."

If the cabinet approves the accord, as it is currently inclined to do, Israel will sign an agreement that will be carried by German mediators to Beirut, where a Hezbollah representative will be asked to also sign it. The deal would then be carried out in a week or two.

Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Thursday that he was prepared to vote in favor of the deal.

"We must do everything to bring the boys home, and if a deal like this was prepared for the release of Gilad Shalit, I would vote in favor of that also," he said.

Related articles:
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  • Most ministers back Hezbollah prisoner swap
  • PMO: Prisoner exchange with Hezbollah not likely next week
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      1.   A death warrant for future hostages! 09:17  |  MARK KLEIN, M.D. 26/06/08
      2.   THE ZIONIST IS GIVING IN FINALLY 09:33  |  indrajaya 26/06/08
      3.   Pure fantasy 09:34  |  Clickfool 26/06/08
      4.   Must limit the scope 09:52  |  Ilan 26/06/08
      5.   Exchange 09:56  |  siem 26/06/08
      6.   Thinking Like Natalie 10:10  |  FOX 26/06/08
      7.   Unconditional surrender 10:26  |  CM 26/06/08
      8.   Israel is giving Hizbollah a large bonus for their efforts 10:26  |  Natallie Durson 26/06/08
      9.   What does Hezbollah even have? 10:26  |  .. 26/06/08
      10.   SWAPPING the Lebanese baby killer & others for ?? 10:36  |  PETER SM 26/06/08
      11.   Where is the ICRC? 10:37  |  FOX 26/06/08
      12.   #5, FOX, "where is the ICRC?" 11:04  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/06/08
      13.   THE UNHCR and Red Cross have been selectively blind -as usual 11:12  |  PETER SM 26/06/08
      14.   FOX #6 on `drunken Supreme Court` 11:57  |  John Syracuse 26/06/08
      15.   High time to sign... 11:59  |  Esther 26/06/08
      16.   When Nassrallah Demands You listen 12:04  |  Ali 26/06/08
      17.   #6 FOX, read the ICRC annual reports 12:17  |  Johnboy 26/06/08
      18.   Cipora Fox Peter: you ask where the humanitarians are 12:39  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 26/06/08
      19.   What a real soldier would say...? 12:54  |  Anne 26/06/08
      20.   johnboy and coups 12:58  |  zebulun 26/06/08
      21.   JOHNBOY How about witholding membership from ICRC 13:00  |  PETER SM 26/06/08
      22.   #12, john, the demand is of Hezbollah and Hamas 13:03  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/06/08
      23.   john syracruse 13:07  |  avihai 26/06/08
      24.   # 7 FOX - ICRC is a muslim dominated nifty ambulette service. 13:18  |  17 26/06/08
      25.   #2 FOX-I don`t think so 13:32  |  Aphemia 26/06/08
      26.   It is almost certain that Olmert got a bribe 14:07  |  Vladimir 26/06/08
      27.   Samirele did some killing (S; previously) 14:13  |  Tosefta 26/06/08
      28.   Ali,, the true Lebanese resistance will liquidate Nasralla 14:26  |  Omar 26/06/08
      29.   Precedents, and Kuntar`s release 14:31  |  Tosefta 26/06/08
      30.   tosefta kuntar`s age does not matter 14:32  |  avihai 26/06/08
      31.   tosefta goes off on a tangent 14:35  |  avihai 26/06/08
      32.   # 11 You are right 14:36  |  CM 26/06/08
      33.   Corruption and Political Prostitution at our future expense 14:36  |  Simon 26/06/08
      34.   tosefta "aka samirele to his parents" 14:39  |  avihai 26/06/08
      35.   disingenuous Margie in Tel Aviv #16 14:46  |  John Syracuse 26/06/08
      36.   #25, Tosefta, once again pleading the case off the monster Kuntar 14:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/06/08
      37.   Parnoid psychosis 14:53  |  Mark Lincoln 26/06/08
      38.   #16 Fake "olive branch" founder seeks humanitarians 14:56  |  Labhras 26/06/08
      39.   "tosefta "hizballah truly does not know ron arad`s whereabouts" 15:03  |  avihai 26/06/08
      40.   precedent tosefta 15:05  |  avihai 26/06/08
      41.   precedent tosefta and "real people" 15:11  |  avihai 26/06/08
      42.   Lebanon owes this to Israel 15:18  |  Margaret Connell 26/06/08
      43.   NO SWAP UNLESS THEY ARE ALIVE 15:18  |  thinkaboutit 26/06/08
      44.   Aphemia, Nasrallah is not the issue 15:27  |  FOX 26/06/08
      45.   THE ZIONIST IS GIVING IN FINALLY (2ND TRY) 15:29  |  indrajaya 26/06/08
      46.   the best thing that happened to me in `06 was defeat of israel 15:31  |  noor 26/06/08
      47.   Ancient wisdom for Cipora J. Kohn #36 15:33  |  Mars H. Mallow 26/06/08
      48.   Johnboy, our noble occupier re #17 15:34  |  FOX 26/06/08
      49.   Margaret Connell.Looks like Nasrallah has not learnt the lesson 15:35  |  PETER SM 26/06/08
      50.   FOX: what`s wrong with the fact that most people are anti-israel? 15:36  |  noor 26/06/08
      51.   Our shallow and verbally diarrhetic "flushman"; aka avihai 15:36  |  Tosefta 26/06/08
      52.   M.LINCOLN The ICRC has behaved shamefuly.What is paranoid about-? 15:39  |  PETER SM 26/06/08
      53.   John Syracuse, Racist playing the Race card 15:42  |  FOX 26/06/08
      54.   Complete nonsense 16:19  |  Ordallie Nutcase 26/06/08
      55.   another terrific deal - 400:1, 800:1, ?????? 16:26  |  superjew 26/06/08
      56.   #2 you have a a warped mind 16:27  |  David 26/06/08
      57.   Demand Status! 16:28  |  Fred McCann 26/06/08
      58.   Isn`t 30 years in jail enough? 16:46  |  Roberto 26/06/08
      59.   Promises, Promises, Tosefta 16:57  |  Jacob Blues 26/06/08
      60.   You know what Roberto, in some cases, the answer is no 17:06  |  Jacob Blues 26/06/08
      61.   # 37 Mark Linkoln - the renaissance man 17:30  |  17 26/06/08
      62.   FOX #53 17:31  |  John Syracuse 26/06/08
      63.   keep kuntar & give him the israeli nationality 17:35  |  ClearCut 26/06/08
      64.   kuntar is a druze and a child killer 17:38  |  ClearCut 26/06/08
      65.   #46 noor - see the light 17:54  |  * BEN JABO 26/06/08
      66.   syracruse you muslims have declared war on the usa 18:06  |  yudke 26/06/08
      67.   Red Cross 18:20  |  Doron 26/06/08
      68.   Israel Must Know if they are Dead or Alive 18:22  |  Jane 26/06/08
      69.   False Blues #59 18:25  |  Tosefta 26/06/08
      70.   OMAR of Saudi Arabia and Israel 18:33  |  Alex