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Cabinet okays prisoner swap By Amos Harel, Barak Ravid and Yossi Melman Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the two Israel Defense Forces reservists abducted by Hezbollah two years ago in a raid that sparked the Second Lebanon War, are to be released in a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah approved by the cabinet yesterday. In exchange for the captive soldiers, Israel will release jailed Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, who murdered a Nahariya family in 1979, and four Hezbollah militants, the remains of Lebanese civilians and several dozen Palestinian prisoners. 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. Advertisement 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 yesterday. 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, United Nations hostage negotiator and intelligence expert Gerhard Konrad bring the signed document from Israel to Beirut, where it will be signed by Hezbollah. In the second stage, due to take place a week from today, Hezbollah will hand over a report on efforts to obtain information on missing airman Ron Arad, who has been missing in action since his plane went down over Lebanon in 1986. 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. Konrad has reportedly already delivered a message to Israel from Hezbollah that Arad is dead. According to the outlines of a 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 the failed 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. 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 yesterday, 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." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Wimbledon shocker Shahar Peer knocks out 9th-seed Safina to slide into the fourth round. Time to hit Iran Israel must destroy Iran's nuclear program within one year or risk being attacked.

Read & React German prof.: Israeli athletes willfully sacrificed themselves in Munich massacre Responses: 159 Cabinet approves Hezbollah prisoner exchange Responses: 201 Harel and Issacharoff: Five myths about prisoner swaps Responses: 50 Former Israeli spymaster: Israel has one year to bomb Iran Responses: 147 More Headlines 02:01 Sources: Hezbollah swap likely by Lebanon war anniversary 00:19 Captive soldier's mother: I won't feel at ease until I hold my son 01:22 Bar-On: If we cede Kuntar, Barghouti will be next 19:55 Hezbollah: Approval of swap deal shows our word is supreme 20:37 What does it mean? An outline of the prisoner exchange deal 00:26 First rabbis ordained in Poland since the Holocaust 14:07 Israeli film wins people's choice award at Moscow Film Festival 15:45 Hamas won't recognize Abbas presidency past January 2009 00:57 Postal Authority to rescind decision to lay off 150 workers 16:27 Former Israeli spymaster: We have year to hit Iran nukes 21:21 Sheldon Adelson - Jewish philanthropist or meddler in Israel's affairs? 13:30 VIDEO: Amy Winehouse's explosive performance at Glastonbury Previous Editions Select Day 29 jun 27 jun 26 jun 25 jun 24 jun 23 jun 22 jun 20 jun 19 jun 18 jun 17 jun 16 jun

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