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| 30/06/2008 “The detainees are our commitment and Samir Kintar and his brothers will soon return to Lebanon." Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has made this pledge on more than an occasion, and today the true promise of the resistance leader is to be fulfilled within a few days when Kintar and his brothers will put years of detention behind them.
On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved on a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah in which two Israeli occupation soldiers captured by resistance fighters in July 2006 are to be released and in return Israel is to set free Lebanese detainees and dozens of Palestinians.
Sources in Israel said the swap deal would probably take place by July 12, when Lebanon and Hezbollah mark the second anniversary of victory.
After five hours of tense debate, 22 ministers voted in favor of the deal and three others - Finance Minister Roni Bar-On, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Housing and Construction Minister Ze'ev Boim - voted against it.
REPORT: HEZBOLLAH TOLD ISRAEL RON ARAD IS DEAD
Israeli dailies Haaretz and Yediot Aharonot reported Monday that United Nations negotiator Gerhard Konrad has reportedly delivered a message to Israel from Hezbollah indicating that missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad is dead. Hezbollah will hand over a report, which is said to detail the organization's efforts to obtain information on Arad, as part of the second stage of the prisoner swap agreement. Arad 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 by the Lebanese Forces of Samir Geagea during the Lebanon war in the 1980s and handed over to Israel.
If Konrad approves the reports, the third stage will ensue: Hezbollah will return the two captured soldiers or their remains if they are no longer alive, as Israeli 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 Kintar to Hezbollah, along with four Hezbollah resistance fighters who were captured in the Second Lebanon War and the remains of a few dozen bodies, including those of eight Hezbollah fighters. This phase will take place at the Nakoura crossing under Red Cross auspices.
In the final stage, within a month after the swap is made, Israel will release a number of Palestinian detainees of its choosing. Cabinet members are set to discuss the list in the coming weeks.
At the cabinet meeting on Sunday, 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 Kintar is the bargaining chip for Ron Arad," said Dagan. "He is a symbol." However, Dagan conceded that leaving Kintar in jail would not get Israel new information about Arad.
BAR-ON: IF WE CEDE KUNTAR, BARGHOUTI WILL BE NEXT
The three ministers who voted against the swap said that the deal constitutes a victory for Hezbollah. "After the release of Kintar, who will be able to stop the release of Marwan Barghouti?"
Finance Minister Bar-On expressed his objection to the release of Palestinian detainees. “It will give (Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah solutions for the Palestinian issues, which I believe is a dangerous precedent," he said, adding that it will also push the price for (Gilad) Shalit up.”
Justice Minister Friedmann argued during the debate that approval of the deal will send a message of weakness. "It is a terrible deal. The price is too high. We must not release Samir Kintar, because it will be a huge victory for Hezbollah" Friedmann said. | 
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