Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., July 04, 2008 Tamuz 1, 5768 | | Israel Time: 11:44 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Missing IAF navigator Ron Arad. (AP)
Last update - 17:20 30/06/2008
Olmert: I voted for swap to prevent another Ron Arad
By Barak Ravid and Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Samir Kuntar, Israel 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to ultimately support the prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah on Sunday stemmed from his desire to avert another Ron Arad-like saga, he said Monday.

The whereabouts and fate of Arad, an Israel Air Force navigator whose plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986, is still unkown despite countless Israeli efforts to obtain this information.

"
Advertisement
I didn't want a situation to arise like the one with Ron Arad, where for 20 years we are trying to figure out what happened to him," the premier said on Monday. "It was clear to me that if we didn't approve the deal, the result would be that we would lose touch with them for many years and we would not be able to bring the soldiers to Israel for burial."

On Sunday, the cabinet overwhelmingly voted in favor of a prisoner exchange with the Lebanon-based guerilla group Hezbollah in which two kidnapped Israel Defense Forces reservists presumed dead, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, would be returned in exchange for five Lebanese fighters including notorious terrorist Samir Kuntar.

Olmert said Monday that he believed there was a possibility that the government's move to begin the process of declaring the abducted soldiers dead, spurred Hezbollah to consummate the deal more quickly.

The prime minister added that he was proud of the decision, which he knew would evoke many dissenting voices, a quality characteristic of the Israeli discourse.

"I hope we will know how to unite," Olmert said. "This is a resolute decision even if there are masses of people before us [in Lebanon] who are celebrating and dancing in the streets with joy. We know that there is only one state that knows how to mourn collectively the loss of one life, a state that has domestic solidarity, which doesn't exist in states that know how to spill blood but don't know how to fight for its life. I'm proud of this and so I am proud of the government's decision."

Olmert added that during the two years since the soldiers were abducted on July 12, 2006, the issue of their return has not left the table. "It is not a good decision. It is not a pleasant matter, it is a subject bound up with pain," he said. He also mentioned that one of the difficulties concerned is the release of Kuntar, in accordance with the prisoner deal.

United Nations hostage negotiator Gerhard Konrad has delivered a message to Israel from Hezbollah saying that Arad, the missing Israel Air Force navigator, is dead.

As part of the second stage of the prisoner swap agreement approved by the cabinet Sunday, Hezbollah will hand over a report, which is said to detail the organization's efforts to obtain information on Arad.

In exchange, Israel will give Hezbollah a report on the fate of four Iranian diplomats kidnapped and murdered during the Lebanon war in the 1980s. Israel has previously said it does not know what happened to the diplomats, who were arrested at a Christian Falange roadblock in 1982 and are believed to have been subsequently executed and buried at a site where construction later obliterated their graves.

According to the outlines of the Hezbollah report, Arad ejected from his plane in 1986 and was taken captive by the Shi'ite militant group Amal. Konrad, who has seen the outline of the report but not the report itself, said his impression was that Hezbollah wanted to show it made a serious effort to find out what happened to Arad.

The report is said to contain numerous details on efforts Hezbollah made to ascertain Arad's fate, including the questioning of various individuals. However, Israel also wants the report to explain how Hezbollah concluded that Arad was dead and why it cannot provide proof of what happened to him or locate his remains.

If Konrad approves the reports, the third stage will ensue: Hezbollah will return Goldwasser and Regev or their remains if they are no longer alive, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday was the case "as far as is known." Hezbollah will also hand over the last of the remains of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon.

In exchange, Israel will deliver Kuntar to Hezbollah, along with four Hezbollah militants who were captured in the Second Lebanon War and the remains of a few dozen bodies, including those of eight Hezbollah militants. This phase will take place at Rosh Hanikra under Red Cross auspices.

Sources in Israel said the swap would probably take place by July 12, when Hezbollah is planning a victory ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the Second Lebanon War.

After five hours of tense debate, 22 ministers voted in favor of the deal and three-Finance Minister Roni Bar-On, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Housing and Construction Minister Ze'ev Boim voted against it.

The signing of the deal will be only the first of four stages of the swap, the cabinet decided Sunday. If the signing takes place in Europe, Ofer Dekel, the Israel negotiator for the prisoner release, will head there in two or three days. Otherwise, Konrad will bring the signed document from Israel to Beirut, where it will be signed by Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the chief military rabbi Brigadier General Avihai Ronsky is to begin coming to conclusions today on the question of declaring Regev and Goldwasser killed in action whose burial place is unknown.

In the final stage, within a month after the swap is made, Israel will release a number of Palestinian prisoners of its choosing. A government official said the list would include about 50 prisoners chosen by the Shin Bet security service. Cabinet members are set to discuss the list in the coming weeks.

At the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mossad chief Meir Dagan objected to Dekel's statement that he and Konrad believed Hezbollah had no significant information about Arad. Dagan, who said Dekel "did not have the tools" to evaluate this because he lacked all the information, came out strongly against the deal, insisting that it would damage Israel by strengthening Hezbollah.

"Samir Kuntar is the bargaining chip for Ron Arad," said Dagan. "He is a symbol." However, Dagan conceded that leaving Kuntar in jail would not get Israel new information about Arad.

Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin also opposed the swap, noting that the Arad family had been promised that Kuntar would not be released except in exchange for information on the missing airman.

The ministers were said to have been particularly moved to vote for the deal by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who said: "I am the commander of all the soldiers ... of the living and the dead, and therefore I say to you the deal must be approved."


Related articles:
  • Bradley Burston / Free the monster Samir Kuntar
  • Mother of missing soldier: Hezbollah will kidnap again if Kuntar not returned
  • Terror victim's brother: Samir Kuntar must stay in prison
  • Families of missing soldiers briefed ahead of Hezbollah deal
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Against his release
    Mother of Kuntar victim appeals to President Peres against his release.
    Gloom and doom
    How many missiles will be fired from Iran, Syria, Lebanon in the next war?
      1.   Why release terrorists for bodies? 03:22  |  Al 30/06/08
      2.   absolutely shameful decision by Olmert, cabinet 03:26  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 30/06/08
      3.   Once Again 03:58  |  JJ 30/06/08
      4.   Hizbolllah deserves it 04:05  |  Fahim 30/06/08
      5.   A SYMBOLICALLY PERFECT TIMING 04:34  |  indrajaya 30/06/08
      6.   Doing the right thing IS strength 05:27  |  Jim 30/06/08
      7.   dead or alive 05:53  |  shimon 30/06/08
      8.   It the right thing to do. The human thing to do. 06:04  |  gus 30/06/08
      9.   The Arab-Israeli conflict in a nutshell 06:16  |  Steve 30/06/08
      10.   A future death sentence for all hostages 06:50  |  Jonathan 30/06/08
      11.   Any Jew in ARAB HANDS will finally be found `dead` 09:12  |  Dolly 30/06/08
      12.   Israel keeps body parts now ? 09:27  |  Bob 30/06/08
      13.   Hezbollah hostage/prisoner exchange 09:52  |  Reality check 30/06/08
      14.   Free will 10:21  |  David 30/06/08
      15.   look at the israeli language: remains of few dozen bodies !!! 10:55  |  mehmet 30/06/08
      16.   if you can free several palestinians for two bodies the why 11:00  |  mehmet 30/06/08
      17.   To the naive Steve 11:26  |  Maral 30/06/08
      18.   Why keep so many Hezbollah prisoners alive 11:39  |  Shoshana Thomasson 30/06/08
      19.   @15, mehmet, it is arab world that put 1 israeli as equal 12:00  |  vladimir 30/06/08
      20.   israel should not capture palestinians in the first place 12:06  |  Omar 30/06/08
      21.   # 15 Mehmet - Armenian genocide victims not even recognized! 12:17  |  Paul Henzen 30/06/08
      22.   Iran, Hamas & Co (the s.o.b.band) = new NSDAP 12:22  |  chris 30/06/08
      23.   indrajaya - you are an ignorant idiot 12:24  |  Adrian de Klerk 30/06/08
      24.   #.16 Mehmet. 12:53  |  Stephen. 30/06/08
      25.   send kuntar back in a body bag 13:27  |  michelle 30/06/08
      26.   Kuntar may follow in those footsteps 13:33  |  Former Mossad 30/06/08
      27.   Omar? 13:50  |  Allan Last 30/06/08
      28.   Indrajaya Means ..... ? 13:54  |  Craig 30/06/08
      29.   Vlad the racist and Steph, I do not care what muslims do 14:00  |  mehmet 30/06/08
      30.   1st BIG Mistake 14:14  |  Stan 30/06/08
      31.   # 15 mehmet.....as an American, I value our 14:36  |  Lynn 30/06/08
      32.   # 5 INDY...Don`t you mean Iran? 14:38  |  Lynn 30/06/08
      33.   Gaby Ashkenazy 14:42  |  Hersh 30/06/08
      34.   # 19 Omar .....all things being equal 15:13  |  Lynn 30/06/08
      35.   My sympathies to the Arad family 15:16  |  Lynn 30/06/08
      36.   did i lose brother for this? 15:25  |  M K 30/06/08
      37.   a question from the supervisors 15:26  |  m 30/06/08
      38.   where abouts 15:54  |  0000 30/06/08
      39.   Shut Up Plee-ze Olmert and accept it...... 16:32  |  Dagma 30/06/08
      40.   Olmert 16:39  |  Steve 30/06/08
      41.   THERE IS NO GOOD DECISION IF IT COMES FROM THE BRAINLESS MERT TO 16:45  |  glenna 30/06/08
      42.   Kuntar is a child Killer 16:58  |  Ice man 30/06/08
      43.   He wanted to prevent another Ron Arad and sacrifices Shalit... 17:19  |  S 30/06/08
      44.   Olmert should have agreed to an exchange 17:21  |  * BEN JABO 30/06/08
      45.   Go Olmert 17:22  |  Baruch 30/06/08
      46.   mehmet - you crossed the line 17:30  |  David Israel 30/06/08
      47.   Olmert underwriting terrorism 17:33  |  Nathaniel 30/06/08
      48.   Unbelievable 17:38  |  B 30/06/08
      49.   Another Really Bad Decision made by Olmert And Cronies 17:45  |  Shepherd 30/06/08
      50.   Pro-Islam TERROR ENABLER Israeli Leaders Unfit to Rule 17:48  |  Linda Rivera 30/06/08
      51.   Olmert is a Fool 17:51  |  Josh 30/06/08
      52.   RON ARAD WAS A VERY GOOD LOOKING GUY 17:59  |  indrajaya 30/06/08
      53.   mehmet 18:03  |  Ramius 30/06/08
      54.   # 26 Former Mossad I know what you talk about is true 18:16  |  Big Sur 30/06/08
      55.   To Indrayaja what Military have you served in? 18:20  |  Big Sur 30/06/08
      56.   Why hasn`t Haaretz mentioned my Point on Iran? 18:25  |  Big Sur 30/06/08
      57.   # 55, BIG GUR 18:40  |  indrajaya 30/06/08
      58.   Dear Ms Indrayaja re post 52 are you looking for a date? 18:47  |  Big Sur 30/06/08
      59.   ref 57 Sorry Typo Indonesia 18:52  |  Big Sur 30/06/08
      60.   to prevent 18:57  |  Ralph 30/06/08
      61.   sorry but i just have to make this comment/comparison 19:03  |  Barry 30/06/08
      62.   Olmert`s backwards logic 19:33  |  Jon 30/06/08
      63.   well you misunderstand me David 20:01  |  mehmet 30/06/08
      64.   David the deserteur only for TSK not for IDF 20:07  |  mehmet 30/06/08
      65.   Melhmet #63 one should take the needle from arm before writing. 20:13  |  Big Sur 30/06/08
      66.   So its OK to torture & murder? 20:15  |  David 30/06/08
      67.   mehmet- I understand you very well 20:22  |  David Israel