German mediators are holding secret contacts with the parties directly concerned with Lebanese detainees in Israeli prisons and Israeli soldiers held captive by the Lebanese Hizbollah movement, an official said on Tuesday.
“But so far, no tangible results have been achieved,” he said, quoted by the Daily Star newspaper.
He underlined the importance of secrecy in the hope of resolving the problem.
The Beirut-based official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the paper that the mediators, unknown to the German ambassador in Beirut, Giselle Kampf Sigura, were facing difficulties in their mission in view of the divergent positions of those involved.
Overcoming obstacles may take time in view of the “difficult conditions” laid down by Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon, including dismantling Hizbollah’s missile bases in the south, according to the official.
Another major obstacle relates to the number of detainees and prisoners Hizbollah wants freed, he said.
He spoke of “very difficult efforts” exerted by the International Red Cross, which was playing a “facilitating rather than a mediating role” and paving the way for the mediators’ activities “in an independent manner.”
The official said information about Israeli prisoners was still shrouded in secrecy and all that was known about them was that they were alive.
High-level international efforts made at one point by European heads of state to determine whether the Israeli captives were in good shape or had been wounded during their capture failed to produce any results, he added.
The official believed moves undertaken by families of the Israeli soldiers to seek information about the captives would not produce “any practical result” because the Red Cross was permitted to visit only 11 out of the 13 Lebanese detainees.
He said a special law in the Knesset had been enacted to ensure the continued detention of two other detainees, Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid, on the grounds that they endangered state security.
The official added that the Israeli measures could help escalate the situation following Hizbollah’s affirmation that resistance operations would persist, not only to liberate the Shabaa Farms but also to free Lebanese detained in Israeli jails.
He said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was seeking a UN role on the question of the Lebanese detainees, but that Israel had opposed such a move, according to the paper.
The three Israeli soldiers were taken captive by Hizbollah in October last year, while the fourth, allegedly a Mossad agent, was later seized during an operation in Lebanon targeting Hizbollah leaders, according to the group – Albawaba.com
