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Israel, Hezbollah clear way for prisoner swap within ten days By Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Yossi Melman Tags: Ron Arad The prisoner exchange with Hezbollah will most likely take place in a week to 10 days, according to a security source. Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah stated in a speech in Beirut this week that the deal is expected to be completed on July 15. Israel is waiting for a report from Hezbollah on the Lebanese Shi'ite organization's efforts to locate missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who was shot down near Sidon in 1986. In the report, which is part of a broader prisoner exchange deal mediated by the United Nations, Hezbollah is expected to say that it did not manage to locate Arad, but details its activities and concludes that the navigator died in Lebanon over a decade ago. The report will be given via a German mediator to Ofer Dekel, the Israeli official charged with negotiating the release of IDF soldiers held by Hezbollah and Hamas, as part of the deal for the release of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were abducted in a cross-border raid by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006. Advertisement Dekel was yesterday expected to sign the deal, entitled "Humanitarian Agreement," with Hezbollah. Under the deal, Goldwasser and Regev will be returned to Israel through the Rosh Hanikra border crossing, and in exchange Israel will release Samir Kuntar held for the 1979 murder of Israeli civilians in Nahariya, four Hezbollah fighters captured during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and the remains of dozens of Lebanese burried in Israel. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that according to intelligence agencies estimates, the two soldiers are dead. Dekel was in Europe yesterday and was due back in Israel early today. Even though the precise destination of his visit was not disclosed, Germany has been instrumental in mediating between Israel and Hezbollah. In return for the report on Arad, Dekel will hand the German negotiators a report focusing on the fate of four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon in July 1982, which will be passed on to Hezbollah and probably also Iran. The Hezbollah report was first examined by the German chief mediator, Gerhard Konrad, and Israeli security sources said that he is very well versed in the details of the case, and therefore it would not be difficult for him to determine whether Hezbollah met the demands set in the latest agreement. Senior intelligence officials who have worked on the Arad case for years told Haaretz that they estimate that the Hezbollah report will not include any surprises for Israel. The Hezbollah version has been compared with that of Mustafa Dirani, who Israel abducted in 1994. Dirani told Shin Bet investigators that Arad disappeared in the village of Nabi Sheit in southern Lebanon in May 1988, which was taken by other Shi'ite groups linked with Iran. Hezbollah claims that Arad died soon after, but Israeli intelligence holds different versions to be true: Some contend that Arad died in the early 1990s, others during the mid 1990s and some maintain that there is no conclusive proof that he is dead. The report on the Iranian diplomats that Israel passed on to Hezbollah states that they were murdered by Phalangists in Lebanon, when they were were arrested at a road block controlled by the Christian militia. The gunmen were members of a group commanded by Eli Hubeika, a senior Phalangist figure who was himself murdered six and a half years ago. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Video attack West Bank settlers tie Palestinian man to phone pole and beat him. A static future Iran's nuclear program remains unchanged despite economic incentives.

Read & React Barak orders demolition of Jerusalem, yeshiva terrorists' homes Responses: 440 Mother of Kuntar victim: This monster will be a Lebanon hero Responses: 176 Peres: No chance of peace with Palestinians Responses: 231 Iran: Any attack on our nuclear facility will be beginning of war Responses: 323 Colombia hostage rescue: the Israeli angle Responses: 132 More Headlines 01:03 VIDEO: Settlers tie Palestinian man to phone pole and beat him 19:21 Iran: Our nuclear program remains unchanged 00:02 Dichter: Kadima's committment to public is to replace Olmert 19:17 Syria tells UN: Israel is burying nuclear waste in Golan Heights 21:22 IDF blockades W. Bank village after rallies against security fence 18:02 Hamas TV: U.S. bill to outlaw us aims at silencing free voices 00:11 Man rips off head of Hitler wax figure at new Berlin museum 04:10 Israel lobbies UN as Ban mulls appointment of new human rights chief 22:04 Barak slams Friedmann's call for probe into wiretapping in Ramon case 18:04 'Police called us smelly Bedouin, then they started to beat us' 20:59 Egypt uncovers three tunnels on border with Gaza strip 17:10 Syrian rights group: Islamist prisoners butchered in clash with warders 19:59 Barak orders demolition of Jerusalem, yeshiva terrorists' homes 14:33 Hamas vs. hummus: Guess who's on the loose in Middle East? Previous Editions Select Day 04 jul 03 jul 02 jul 01 jul 30 jun 29 jun 27 jun 26 jun 25 jun 24 jun 23 jun 22 jun

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