A German envoy has recently visited Beirut and discussed with the leadership of Hizbollah Lebanese resistance movement the issue of three Israeli soldiers captured by the group in October 2000. The Lebanese daily As-Safir reports that the German official arrived in Beirut following an Israeli request. According to the source, Israel wants to revive negotiations on the fate of these soldiers.
The secretary general of the Hizbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, told last month a Kuwaiti daily that Israel had returned to negotiations on a prisoner exchange. Sheikh Nasrallah added that his party was still ready to negotiate.
The three soldiers - Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Souad - were taken captives by Hizbollah guerillas believed to be disguised as UN troops. Israel has already declared the three to be fallen in action. But the Lebanese groups refused to comment on the accuracy of the Israeli estimation, saying they would not divulge any information about their prisoners.
Hizbollah wants to swap the three prisoners, and a fourth said to be a Mossad agent with Lebanese, Arab and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel’s Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer has told reporters that Israel had proof from an eye-witness that the three were no longer alive. "Someone saw" the captured soldiers' bodies, Ben-Eliezer disclosed. (Albawaba.com)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
