Big mistake for Israel in my opinion….bodies returned for killers to be released again? I am not generally pro-Israel or however else you want to describe it but in this instance I think they really have set a dangerous precedence for the future. Heart breaking stuff though, I had never heard of this Hezbollah killer before.
Sheera Frenkel in Rosh Hanikra
Hezbollah this morning handed back to Israel what appeared to be the bodies of two dead soldiers whose capture caused the bloody 34-day war between the Jewish State and the Shia Islamist group two years ago.
As part of a landmark prisoner exchange, two black coffins believed to be carrying the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were carried by the Red Cross over the border dividing southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The two had not been heard from since their capture two years ago.
As Israel prepared to mourn its dead soldiers, Lebanon, meanwhile, readied itself for a massive celebration for the five Hezbollah militants set to be returned by Israel in exchange.
Chief among them is Samir Kantar, held for nearly 30 years in an Israeli prison for the killing of an Israeli father and his four-year-old daughter.
The five militants, and 199 Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas killed in clashes between the two countries, will be handed over by Israel only after the Jewish State positively identifies - using DNA if necessary - the bodies of their soldiers in the black coffins.
Such is the controversy surrounding Kantar’s release that Israel has planned his transfer from prison to the exchange site along a route that would stay clear of Nahariya, the scene of his attack.
Kantar is reviled among Israelis for the brutality of his attack, which was etched onto the Israeli public consciousness as one of the most vicious in the state’s history. In his trial, witnesses recounted how in the dead of night on April 22, 1979, Kantar shot Danny Haran in front of his child, then killed her by smashing her skull against a rock with his rifle butt.
Mr Haran's wife, Smadar, accidentally smothered her two-year-old daughter with her hand while trying to stifle her cries. Kantar has never expressed remorse over the incident.
Israel has long-refused to free Kantar, holding him as a bargaining chip to win new information about Ron Arad, an Israeli airman whose plane crashed in Lebanon in 1986. But, despairing of wresting new information about his fate from Hezbollah, and under pressure from the captured soldiers' families to bring them home, Israel's Cabinet voted yesterday to release him in exchange for the bodies of the two captured soldiers.
Israeli President Shimon Peres took the first formal step to activate the swap by formally pardoning Kantar late last night.
“This is a sad day for me and for the country,” he told reporters before signing the pardon. “On one hand, we have the most terrible murderer. On the other hand, we have our commitment to our boys who were sent to fight for their country. It is our moral duty and our heartfelt wish to see them come back.”
The prisoner-swap has sparked a debate within Israel over the price the Jewish State is willing to pay for returning kidnapped soldiers. Critics claim that, by trading bodies for prisoners, Israel is giving militants little incentive to keep captured soldiers alive. This is particularly relevant as it applies to an ongoing hostage-taking in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants are holding a third Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, also seized two years ago but believed to be still alive.
Despite widespread predictions that Mr Goldwassar and Mr Regev were killed during their capture, their families insisted last night that they were holding out hope that their sons would be returned alive.
“I can’t help but think about the worst possible thing, I can’t escape those fears… but I also hold on to the small possibility that after two years of the torture and misery I’ve gone through I will see my son alive,” said Tzvi Regev, the father of Mr Regev.
Family members of the two were expected to spend the day at a short distance from the exchange-site, with some secluded in a closed military compound in the western Galilee, and others remaining in their private homes. Military funerals are planned for Thursday.
Israeli government and military officials worked late into the night preparing the logistics for today’s exchange. 24 hours ahead of the swap, the Israeli military declared a several-mile-wide radius around the border a closed military zone, banning all non-approved personnel from going near to the site were the swap would occur.
As well as Kantar, Lebanon will also receive the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas who were killed in clashes between the two countries over the last few years. Red Cross vans already moved those bodies near the exchange point yesterday, preparing the facilities for the transfer.
The prisoners will then fly by helicopter to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport, and take part in a celebratory welcoming with the Lebanese president and prime minister.
Sheera Frenkel in Rosh Hanikra
Hezbollah this morning handed back to Israel what appeared to be the bodies of two dead soldiers whose capture caused the bloody 34-day war between the Jewish State and the Shia Islamist group two years ago.
As part of a landmark prisoner exchange, two black coffins believed to be carrying the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were carried by the Red Cross over the border dividing southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The two had not been heard from since their capture two years ago.
As Israel prepared to mourn its dead soldiers, Lebanon, meanwhile, readied itself for a massive celebration for the five Hezbollah militants set to be returned by Israel in exchange.
Chief among them is Samir Kantar, held for nearly 30 years in an Israeli prison for the killing of an Israeli father and his four-year-old daughter.
The five militants, and 199 Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas killed in clashes between the two countries, will be handed over by Israel only after the Jewish State positively identifies - using DNA if necessary - the bodies of their soldiers in the black coffins.
Such is the controversy surrounding Kantar’s release that Israel has planned his transfer from prison to the exchange site along a route that would stay clear of Nahariya, the scene of his attack.
Kantar is reviled among Israelis for the brutality of his attack, which was etched onto the Israeli public consciousness as one of the most vicious in the state’s history. In his trial, witnesses recounted how in the dead of night on April 22, 1979, Kantar shot Danny Haran in front of his child, then killed her by smashing her skull against a rock with his rifle butt.
Mr Haran's wife, Smadar, accidentally smothered her two-year-old daughter with her hand while trying to stifle her cries. Kantar has never expressed remorse over the incident.
Israel has long-refused to free Kantar, holding him as a bargaining chip to win new information about Ron Arad, an Israeli airman whose plane crashed in Lebanon in 1986. But, despairing of wresting new information about his fate from Hezbollah, and under pressure from the captured soldiers' families to bring them home, Israel's Cabinet voted yesterday to release him in exchange for the bodies of the two captured soldiers.
Israeli President Shimon Peres took the first formal step to activate the swap by formally pardoning Kantar late last night.
“This is a sad day for me and for the country,” he told reporters before signing the pardon. “On one hand, we have the most terrible murderer. On the other hand, we have our commitment to our boys who were sent to fight for their country. It is our moral duty and our heartfelt wish to see them come back.”
The prisoner-swap has sparked a debate within Israel over the price the Jewish State is willing to pay for returning kidnapped soldiers. Critics claim that, by trading bodies for prisoners, Israel is giving militants little incentive to keep captured soldiers alive. This is particularly relevant as it applies to an ongoing hostage-taking in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants are holding a third Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, also seized two years ago but believed to be still alive.
Despite widespread predictions that Mr Goldwassar and Mr Regev were killed during their capture, their families insisted last night that they were holding out hope that their sons would be returned alive.
“I can’t help but think about the worst possible thing, I can’t escape those fears… but I also hold on to the small possibility that after two years of the torture and misery I’ve gone through I will see my son alive,” said Tzvi Regev, the father of Mr Regev.
Family members of the two were expected to spend the day at a short distance from the exchange-site, with some secluded in a closed military compound in the western Galilee, and others remaining in their private homes. Military funerals are planned for Thursday.
Israeli government and military officials worked late into the night preparing the logistics for today’s exchange. 24 hours ahead of the swap, the Israeli military declared a several-mile-wide radius around the border a closed military zone, banning all non-approved personnel from going near to the site were the swap would occur.
As well as Kantar, Lebanon will also receive the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas who were killed in clashes between the two countries over the last few years. Red Cross vans already moved those bodies near the exchange point yesterday, preparing the facilities for the transfer.
The prisoners will then fly by helicopter to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport, and take part in a celebratory welcoming with the Lebanese president and prime minister.
